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[19:44] connect the urban renewal agency

[19:47] first item on the agendas the acceptance

[19:49] of the minutes of May 16th meeting

[19:51] entertain a motion to approve of my Mr

[19:54] palomini seconded by Mr motivir and all

[19:57] in favor I stay opposed next items

[20:01] resolution

[20:02] [Music]

[20:04] 2023-01 authorized Elise of 100 J Street

[20:09] to Metroplex

[20:10] it's a lot across the street to the fire

[20:12] was we've talked about before but it's

[20:15] in the title of Surah so that it would

[20:18] entertain a motion to approve that move

[20:20] with Mr palamini thanks I got a

[20:23] Porterfield all in favor any opposed

[20:27] resolution is adapted next to the

[20:30] resolution is

[20:32] 2023-02 authorizing the transfer of

[20:35] property currently owned by Surah to the

[20:38] city of Schenectady again in this this

[20:41] would be a general authorization where

[20:43] when we take property in in rev

[20:46] foreclosure we then transfer it to Surah

[20:49] where there's some accounting and tax

[20:52] advantages to the city this and what we

[20:55] do now is do an individual resolution to

[20:58] transfer it back when we sell it this

[21:00] would just authorize a blanket transfer

[21:03] upon the authorization of the city

[21:04] council to sell those properties

[21:07] entertain a motion to approve

[21:11] so when we when the individual

[21:13] properties come you're saying we'll see

[21:14] them as individual properties say that

[21:16] once again you're saying that when the

[21:17] properties come individually you will

[21:19] see them

[21:21] to the city council the city council

[21:23] would have to authorize it and this

[21:25] would pre-authorize returning it back to

[21:27] the city when we actually sell it thank

[21:31] you entertain a motion move by Mr

[21:33] palimini secondly Mr motiviran all in

[21:36] favor

[21:37] aye any opposed any other business to

[21:39] come before the agency

[21:44] by Mr motivaren agency stands adjourned

[21:48] thank you

[21:50] all right the first item on our city

[21:53] council agenda

[21:54] um meeting to order for Monday February

[21:57] 6 2023 first item on the agenda

[21:59] presentation Mr Colony yes um there's a

[22:04] company called create about door they do

[22:07] garbage cans with basically garbage can

[22:10] recycling bins that they can put

[22:14] throughout the city

[22:16] these bins would be maintained by them

[22:19] they sell ads on them we would get some

[22:22] money in exchange but to give a

[22:25] presentation we have Jim diamond from

[22:28] creative outdoor and you should all have

[22:30] that in your packet unfortunately we're

[22:33] unable to get the computer equipment

[22:35] going but if you want and he just has a

[22:37] short presentation to let everybody know

[22:42] about what the garbage can

[22:45] deal with thank you counseling thank you

[22:48] for allowing me to speak tonight

[22:51] as he mentioned you have the uh packets

[22:55] in front of you with general information

[22:56] about the program I'm going to go over

[22:58] that very quickly and then I would like

[23:01] to answer any questions that you might

[23:02] have most importantly again thank you

[23:05] for the time to speak tonight so

[23:08] creative outdoor

[23:09] started in the 1980s we have over 250

[23:14] Municipal relationships and Partnerships

[23:17] throughout North America we have over 17

[23:20] 000 units in place and 5 000 sponsorship

[23:23] clients that utilize our units on a

[23:27] monthly basis

[23:28] we only offer TurnKey amenity programs

[23:33] to municipalities that are cost free 100

[23:38] cost free the municipality and to the

[23:41] citizenry

[23:42] so our core philosophies are that the

[23:44] street Furniture blend in and keep the

[23:49] integrity and the community standards in

[23:52] both appearance and advertising on all

[23:54] of the units these units will be three

[23:57] units wide about six feet wide by two

[24:00] feet deep with sponsorships on both

[24:02] sides and as Mr palomini had mentioned

[24:06] we handle everything

[24:09] installation procurement installation

[24:12] maintenance

[24:14] handling the advertising and the

[24:17] collection there is no responsibility by

[24:19] the city the the program is completely

[24:22] controlled by the city 100 both in

[24:25] locations and who is allowed to sponsor

[24:28] these programs

[24:30] so we don't we don't allow big National

[24:33] companies it's all local business

[24:35] advertising that would take part in this

[24:38] there's also an element with this

[24:41] program in which Schenectady could take

[24:43] advantage of

[24:46] five percent generally of the units for

[24:49] local community messaging at no charge

[24:52] so whatever

[24:54] it may be a large Festival that's going

[24:56] on or a a big push for recycling in a

[25:00] lot of cases they do recycling education

[25:03] information on them as well as we have

[25:06] reached out to local community

[25:08] organizations and schools in which we

[25:12] Supply them with local with recycling

[25:14] educational materials so that they can

[25:18] promote this message throughout the city

[25:22] again the city controls 100 of the

[25:25] locations of these as well as who is

[25:29] allowed to sponsor them we handle

[25:31] everything else it completely

[25:33] indemnifying the city of any liability

[25:35] we have insurance on each every one of

[25:37] them if you desire that they're in a

[25:40] location where let's say there's no

[25:41] concrete at the time we will put the

[25:44] concrete pad in and install it all with

[25:47] ADA compliance all keeping site

[25:50] triangles in mind at all busy

[25:52] intersections so the safety is the

[25:54] priority

[25:56] that is the broad Strokes of this

[25:59] program I don't want to take up too much

[26:01] time so I'd like to answer any questions

[26:03] that you might have about the program if

[26:05] I can so would you speak a little bit to

[26:08] the revenue sharing piece of it and just

[26:12] to clarify there are two options for

[26:16] garbage collection one our city Crews

[26:18] would pick it up the other

[26:21] um would be I'm your responsibility

[26:23] absolutely so there is a revenue sharing

[26:25] portion of this a port a percentage of

[26:28] the monthly Revenue that is generated by

[26:30] the local sponsorship would come back to

[26:32] the city that percentage is purely based

[26:35] on how much work we are doing as a

[26:38] company versus how much the city is

[26:41] taking on and by work I mean emptying

[26:44] and collecting these units we will

[26:46] always maintain them we will always

[26:49] fix any repairs and all of that

[26:52] 100 of the time collection if we are

[26:55] going to collect we will collect all of

[26:58] them

[26:59] and it will be a lower percentage that

[27:01] the city will receive as far as Revenue

[27:04] let's just say for round numbers five

[27:06] percent of the revenue would be

[27:08] generated would come to the city monthly

[27:10] now if we were going to do the

[27:13] collection we it would probably be about

[27:15] five percent if Schenectady was going to

[27:18] continue doing the collection as you

[27:20] have you and you have containers

[27:23] throughout the local city here if DPW is

[27:27] going to do collection

[27:28] we may it may be a 15 of Revenue would

[27:33] be coming into the city each month it's

[27:36] all gonna that's a little fluid in the

[27:38] agreement just based on how many units

[27:40] we're placing and how much collection

[27:43] we're doing

[27:47] are there any other questions that

[27:49] are there municipalities around the fed

[27:52] or are you already working with yeah yes

[27:54] so I'm working with in this stage quite

[27:58] a few I was brought in with creative

[28:00] outdoor to bring this into the New York

[28:02] Market we have a great concentration in

[28:06] the Florida area that's where our home

[28:08] headquarters is and we have a great com

[28:11] uh

[28:13] number of units and relationships in the

[28:17] Massachusetts Long Island

[28:20] Rhode Island and New Jersey areas it's

[28:24] my job to expand us into the New York

[28:27] Region so we're your first year contact

[28:29] which you're essentially saying yeah not

[28:32] contact but yes and we're in this

[28:35] process I can't use any as reference

[28:37] because we're in the contract

[28:39] negotiation process or we're in the

[28:41] presentation processes right now but

[28:43] other municipalities that are looking at

[28:46] this all the way down to the up and down

[28:47] the Thruway including my hometown

[28:50] Syracuse which

[28:51] they've got a they've got a a different

[28:54] aspect of this program

[28:56] based on the picture that I this

[28:58] particular picture yes it looks like I

[29:00] mean they're very large I thought the

[29:01] dimension said 71 inches actually

[29:04] um it does so

[29:06] that's that's pretty weird

[29:08] um this is and you can there's three

[29:10] collection there's recycling trash

[29:14] that is actually whatever the city wants

[29:17] it to be so I mentioned Syracuse has a

[29:19] little bit different of a program

[29:21] they're solely interested in litter

[29:24] abatement they don't want to go the

[29:26] recycling route because litter is such a

[29:28] problem they're doing all three litter

[29:30] all three are going to be trash we'll

[29:33] move into the recycling as the education

[29:35] gets better but they need stuff up off

[29:38] the ground so they're going Litter with

[29:40] all of them right now and they're using

[29:41] some of their own cans to supplement

[29:44] that as well because that's their main

[29:46] issue okay so I'm sorry to interrupt

[29:49] those three can be whatever the city

[29:53] wants it can be commingle glass Plastics

[29:55] and trash it can be co-mingle uh glass

[29:59] paper and trash whatever you want it to

[30:03] concentrate on and so they're locked in

[30:05] they are a lot of things yes because

[30:07] people try to collect the recyclables

[30:09] absolutely

[30:10] my other quick question is um you said

[30:13] that they that Syracuse has their own

[30:16] recycling has their own trash bins as

[30:18] well in conjunction with this because

[30:20] the information we said that you would

[30:22] want us to remove all the trash cans

[30:24] which has been said thousands of dollars

[30:26] over the last couple years absolutely no

[30:28] I I would not want you to

[30:30] do away with your Cur we can replace

[30:33] some of them and we can you can relocate

[30:36] some that you currently have uh usually

[30:39] those the ones that I have seen

[30:41] throughout the city are the 45 gallon

[30:43] steel containers

[30:45] um or 50 gallon steel containers

[30:48] we can re-locate those with DPW and to

[30:52] other locations if you want these units

[30:55] to be in specific locations we this is

[30:58] completely controlled by the city so we

[31:00] will be fluid to whatever your needs are

[31:03] with that we we don't want to just put

[31:05] them in the landfill for sure we want to

[31:07] utilize them as best we can

[31:09] so uh if I understand correctly like

[31:12] there's you know there's different costs

[31:13] associated with um the proper you know

[31:15] processing of trash or and you know

[31:17] recycling tickets so just that

[31:20] um impact uh the proper sharing so in

[31:22] other words if we say we want to go

[31:25] um you know recycling you know um but

[31:28] that you know recycling versus Trash

[31:31] um will that impact the profit share or

[31:34] what what our operations team that's a

[31:37] great question our operations team is

[31:41] has that all under control and it's all

[31:44] kind of baked into the program now I

[31:47] don't know how familiar you are with

[31:49] landfills and that process but there is

[31:51] a tipping fee when we when you bring

[31:53] this bag of recycling or trash to the

[31:58] landfill there's a tipping fee for that

[32:00] bag of trash that would still have to be

[32:03] covered by this city because it's the

[32:05] city's refuse

[32:08] um we will take it there and we will

[32:10] provide receipts for everything that's

[32:12] brought in tipping fees would

[32:15] wouldn't change at all you're currently

[32:17] paying for them and that would continue

[32:19] we just cover everything else

[32:22] so just for some further information

[32:25] there's been some conversations with

[32:28] commissioner Lafond the mayor a couple

[32:31] other individuals the idea is to replace

[32:35] some of the garbage cans in the city

[32:37] that just aren't very good

[32:40] obviously to keep in mind the what the

[32:43] neighborhoods have done with some of the

[32:45] newer garbage cans and their programs to

[32:48] keep those in place

[32:50] and to try to do that in a mixture so

[32:54] that work that the neighborhoods have

[32:56] done to put those those nice garbage

[32:59] cans in still remain but the other ones

[33:03] that are probably in disrepair do get

[33:05] replaced it wouldn't be an extra load

[33:08] for the garbage Crews I think Mr Lafond

[33:13] is there so that was a discussion to

[33:17] take place to make sure that one

[33:20] burden our workers even more and so

[33:24] that's kind of what has taken place up

[33:28] until now

[33:31] so do they would how would the unions

[33:34] play into this at all in terms of

[33:35] someone else doing that work I guess

[33:37] that's more of a question for Mr LaVon

[33:39] in terms of collection which is

[33:42] something that our I think is we're

[33:44] collecting it now you know the city was

[33:47] open to it we will continue collecting

[33:49] it that way our share of the revenue

[33:51] would be greater we're collecting them

[33:52] now

[33:54] um throughout the city and you know

[33:56] depending on that but about 500

[33:58] difference

[34:00] you know we talked we can handle the

[34:05] extra load of picking this trash up if

[34:07] it was trash or if it was recyclables

[34:09] that we're doing the current

[34:11] so that means that our our staff our

[34:14] city staff would need uh keys to oats

[34:17] because a lot so they would need key

[34:18] said that'd be part of them their work

[34:20] to open it okay

[34:24] another question um about the the size

[34:26] of these and where these are based on

[34:28] the pictures I've seen they look like

[34:29] they're mostly in downtown areas or

[34:31] shopping malls or those kind of things

[34:32] are these also located in neighborhood

[34:35] high traffic areas is where we like to

[34:38] concentrate both for the recycling

[34:41] portion of it and the sponsorship end of

[34:45] it because those sponsors want the

[34:47] highest traffic that they can

[34:50] receive based on their locations now

[34:52] some might like the entrance to to a

[34:57] not a not a not a neighborhood itself

[35:00] but uh on a higher traffic portion

[35:04] because they're on that side of town or

[35:06] they're on the other side of town and

[35:07] they want more traffic being generated

[35:09] that way how the very briefly how this

[35:12] process works is if this is something we

[35:14] move forward with once the arrangements

[35:17] and the agreement is reached percentage

[35:20] and things like that then

[35:22] once we have the agreement signed by

[35:25] both parties we send in our auditor and

[35:28] he would come here and he would spend a

[35:32] day looking at the high traffic areas he

[35:35] would speak to whoever the point person

[35:37] was going to be and he would also

[35:39] utilize a Google Maps because you can do

[35:42] street view now and we would put

[35:44] together a list we've been doing this

[35:46] for going on 45 years we would put

[35:49] together a list of where we know that

[35:52] these units would be

[35:54] in the best interests of the city and

[35:59] our sponsors our two partners in this we

[36:01] would submit that list to the city for

[36:04] your approval now you may say yes these

[36:07] 40 spots are perfect these ten no we

[36:10] don't want them here we want them here

[36:11] and we would just go back and forth with

[36:14] that you're in complete control 100 of

[36:16] the time and everything would be hashed

[36:19] out that way so there would never be a

[36:21] question of what we do want to hear also

[36:23] they can be moved at any point in time

[36:26] if there's a DPW project and you're

[36:28] widening a street we have to take three

[36:30] hours we take them out we hold them and

[36:33] then we put them back in when that

[36:34] project is done or we relocate them it's

[36:37] based on whatever Schenectady would need

[36:40] at that time

[36:50] that need to be

[36:53] in this in a city this size I would say

[36:56] that 40 would probably be a safe minimum

[37:00] um we don't want to exceed one per

[37:03] thousand people population generally one

[37:06] per thousand is a perfect fit for both

[37:10] the sponsorship and the city needs you

[37:13] know in in the higher traffic areas I

[37:17] have

[37:18] quite a few municipalities one that's

[37:21] being started installation in the next

[37:23] two weeks they're doing two phases

[37:26] they're doing a phase one with their

[37:28] first 47 and then they're adding 20 more

[37:31] probably in six months just because they

[37:34] want to do it in phases like that that

[37:36] was what council wanted so again we can

[37:39] adapt to anything like that but in order

[37:42] for this program to work we do need

[37:46] we're going to hire someone in

[37:49] Schenectady to do this the maintenance

[37:53] to take care of these units in order to

[37:57] pay that person what they deserve and

[38:00] what they have earned you gotta have at

[38:02] least 40 in the city this size to make

[38:04] it worth their while and then the second

[38:06] question art is uh perceptual but uh

[38:08] vandalism is pretty straightforward are

[38:10] very considerations to like us

[38:12] maintaining the Integrity of the the

[38:14] devices or is there an expectation where

[38:17] something was continuously destroyed or

[38:19] damaged you yourself would identify this

[38:22] as no longer a viable location so this

[38:25] is a partnership uh we are going to be

[38:28] 100

[38:30] replacing repairing they they're going

[38:33] to get power washed at minimum monthly

[38:36] if they need it more they're going to be

[38:38] seen weekly and they're going to be kept

[38:40] up

[38:42] the technology around the maintenance is

[38:44] one of the most impressive parts of this

[38:46] program

[38:49] whoever is in control of this will

[38:51] actually have a website for each and

[38:53] every unit and they will be able to go

[38:55] on and see real-time maintenance data so

[38:58] let's say there's a loose bolt that's

[39:00] popping out of one of the feet they

[39:02] would take a before picture they would

[39:04] fix it they would take an after picture

[39:05] and all of that data would be uploaded

[39:08] immediately so whoever is in charge of

[39:10] that can view it as much as they want

[39:15] if we have a unit that just becomes a

[39:18] problem now one gets hit by a car we're

[39:20] going to come in within 24 hours and

[39:22] we're going to have that replaced

[39:23] especially when it's a safety

[39:25] if there's vandalism let's say it's

[39:28] no man 11 no vandalism is appropriate

[39:31] but let's say it's really inappropriate

[39:34] that's going to be handled within 24

[39:36] hours we're not going to let that stay

[39:38] other maintenance concerns everything

[39:41] can be done over the Internet we also

[39:43] have a live person that will answer the

[39:46] phone in operations that can handle any

[39:48] concerns if we have a problem with one

[39:50] specific unit that just keeps getting

[39:53] vandalized and damaged we may just have

[39:56] a conversation of is this worth it for

[39:58] either of us to have this unit in this

[40:00] place can we move it somewhere else it's

[40:03] a partnership you're always going to be

[40:04] in control of that

[40:06] yeah

[40:08] one question uh cooperation Council if

[40:12] we were to move forward with this

[40:13] program do we need to amend the city

[40:14] ordinance to accommodate for outdoor

[40:17] advertising

[40:19] for this program

[40:20] I've looked into this very briefly

[40:23] um I think it's worthy of me taking a

[40:25] deeper dive into it and look at some of

[40:27] the case Law related to this

[40:30] um so what I would say is I would like

[40:34] that opportunity part of it is I it has

[40:37] to do with essentially what what we're

[40:39] putting it on rather than you know the

[40:43] billboard or you know a sign on premises

[40:46] you know case law generally says and we

[40:49] can discuss it you know in Greater

[40:51] detail that the city is not required to

[40:53] follow

[40:54] every aspect of the zoning ordinance

[40:59] um I know Mr Marty and I have talked

[41:02] briefly about this but it's certainly

[41:03] worth a deeper dive the other thing I

[41:06] just want to add as it relates to

[41:08] advertising because this has come up to

[41:10] um

[41:12] the city would be hands off on

[41:14] determining who gets to advertise

[41:16] um and or who doesn't get to advertise

[41:18] that has to be handled strictly by the

[41:22] company so as to not

[41:26] essentially violate anybody's First

[41:28] Amendment rights so the company would be

[41:31] handling all aspects of Lucas to

[41:33] advertise

[41:35] can I just speak to that momentarily so

[41:38] I really appreciate you bringing that up

[41:40] it always comes up

[41:42] uh the first amendment is a it's the

[41:46] first of the Amendments it's a very

[41:48] important one

[41:50] we have very high standards when it

[41:52] comes to who can sponsor these

[41:55] no tobacco no alcohol family-friendly

[41:58] local business there's one caveat to

[42:01] that

[42:02] with marijuana being in on everyone's

[42:06] mind and these local dispensaries and

[42:08] things like that we typically will leave

[42:11] that up to the city if the city says we

[42:14] don't want a part of that we want to be

[42:16] hands off we will that will not be

[42:19] something that we would allow a

[42:20] sponsorship it's it has to be wholesome

[42:23] family friendly local

[42:26] the dog groomer the doggy day care the

[42:29] daycare the the diner that's the

[42:32] businesses that our advertising team has

[42:35] the most success with we stay away from

[42:38] political we stay away from we we stay

[42:41] away from anything that can be a hotbot

[42:43] okay

[42:44] so if I understand what you're saying

[42:46] correctly but even in that circumstance

[42:48] the city wouldn't be saying you know we

[42:52] you know it would be this industry yes

[42:55] it's not allowed you know we're not

[42:56] interested in advertising for this

[42:58] industry not a particular

[43:00] uh a company that's in such what you

[43:04] know we wouldn't be in by at least you

[43:07] know if someone's first amendment was

[43:08] right is that how you understand it

[43:09] again I can speak more you know in terms

[43:13] of like legal advice obviously

[43:16] um an executive session if the council

[43:18] would like but just as a blanket matter

[43:22] the city shouldn't be involved in any

[43:23] determination on legal lawful activities

[43:26] for the purposes of advertising if

[43:29] something was obviously you know

[43:31] advocating for the use of not advocating

[43:34] but you know illegal drug you know trade

[43:38] obviously that would be against the law

[43:40] and that would not be something that

[43:41] would be a lot we could say no you can't

[43:43] advertise that but for anything that is

[43:45] lawful my recommendation is the city

[43:47] does not make any determinations we

[43:49] leave it up to whomever we're going to

[43:50] contract with to make those decisions

[43:52] and we don't say yes or no it's going to

[43:56] be decision of whomever we are

[43:58] Contracting with

[44:04] questions

[44:06] so I'd just like to I can follow along

[44:09] with uh

[44:11] with Mr palomini after this but I just

[44:14] want to just mention the process

[44:16] um as we're talking about legal I can

[44:20] submit a blank sample copy of the

[44:23] agreement

[44:24] for so you can see what it's all about

[44:27] and what is what letters what's

[44:31] our responsibility versus uh what's on

[44:33] the city I can supply any information

[44:35] that Council would request and I thank

[44:39] you for your time oh yes please so you

[44:42] know you said this is absolutely no cost

[44:44] to us actually we're going to get

[44:45] Revenue how do you generate your revenue

[44:48] from the local sponsorship sponsorship

[44:50] yep that's it yes local sponsorship and

[44:53] I can just speak to that a little bit

[44:56] because a lot of times I will get what

[44:58] happens if you don't get a sponsorship

[45:00] what do we do then we will it is one of

[45:04] the lowest cost advertising avenues for

[45:07] a small business small businesses can't

[45:10] get the high highway billboard the

[45:12] television and radio ads and the

[45:14] newsprint are tough expensive these are

[45:17] very affordable for the local business

[45:19] that's why they're so popular with the

[45:22] local business our average sponsorship

[45:25] client stays with us for 7.2 years

[45:28] and that's the Mom and Pops that they

[45:31] stay with us that long so it's very

[45:33] popular with them and we have we will

[45:35] have in specifically in Schenectady we

[45:38] will have a waiting list for these units

[45:41] within a year

[45:42] once our uh advertising team gets a hold

[45:47] thank you absolutely thank you for your

[45:49] time I appreciate it thanks for coming

[45:55] over government operations we have three

[45:58] items on the agenda

[46:00] the first is regarding the frequency

[46:02] question of white votes in this qualify

[46:11] good evening thank you who's here again

[46:14] to answer any questions you may have and

[46:16] then we have this discussion about a

[46:17] month ago no white jokes the frequency

[46:20] is that we're looking to do a public

[46:22] hearing between moving frequency

[46:24] reflection for white goods the monthly

[46:26] basis versus the weekly and stated in

[46:28] the state code currently

[46:30] somebody was under your dentist

[46:33] came in to see if I can answer any

[46:34] questions

[46:37] so yeah some questions

[46:41] so we we talked about the last time and

[46:43] I guess it wasn't clear for me anyway

[46:45] that this had already moved forward

[46:46] without the public hearing that they were printed with this change on

[46:51] there already correct they were praying

[46:53] because yes I authorized the printing

[46:55] with the modification on it we did not

[46:58] change the procedure in the fields but

[47:02] the timeline would have put it that we

[47:04] would have to either reprint it or put

[47:06] it back another year and we've talked

[47:08] about this for a year about Shifting the

[47:11] white goods collection to a more

[47:13] efficient manner so it's going to be one

[47:16] day a month again it is opposed to the

[47:20] random operation that we use now and so

[47:23] it's just trying to build some

[47:24] efficiency into it uh it's created a

[47:27] little inconvenience or uh question by

[47:30] the public again but the service has not

[47:33] been shifted and again asking the

[47:35] council to move ahead with this so in

[47:38] fact we can modify it so it builds a

[47:40] little operational efficiency into the

[47:43] system having said that the way the

[47:46] market is now with recyclables with

[47:48] white goods

[47:49] there's actually a premium on it so most

[47:53] of the Scrappers go out and pick it up

[47:55] and we're in fact not picking up much in

[47:58] all of the curve is that correct and a

[48:00] lot of times you know when appliances

[48:01] are delivered the delivery guy is taking

[48:04] them and you can call somebody they're

[48:06] going to come get your appliances for

[48:07] freeze lines so you can have them but

[48:08] we're seeing very few you know large

[48:11] household appliances if they're doing

[48:13] washer dryers out there on the curb and

[48:15] we have a truck out there on a weekly

[48:17] basis and it's just an efficient

[48:19] operation you just be out there on a

[48:20] weekly basis waiting for a call because

[48:22] we may have one you know some of them

[48:26] well it is because

[48:28] um the I'm sorry

[48:30] because we I we all started hearing from

[48:32] the public like what's changed what are

[48:34] white goods even was the question and I

[48:35] know we had a discussion that we should

[48:37] say what like what goods really were

[48:39] because

[48:40] I know what the industry says it is I

[48:43] understand that we understand what it is

[48:45] but the public journalism because I got

[48:47] phone calls water wipers the further

[48:50] um confusion was that people didn't

[48:52] understand based on the new schedule

[48:54] that white goods and their garbage

[48:57] collection day would like fall on the

[48:58] same day sometimes and furthermore what

[49:01] was the process because there was no

[49:02] explanation as to what was the process

[49:04] going to be

[49:05] Pride there was just new um a new

[49:08] schedule put out and there was no

[49:10] explanation I asked you about that about

[49:12] what we're going to be doing some public

[49:13] service announcements so all this has

[49:15] come back because the process the proper

[49:17] procedures that this would have changed

[49:19] the code and then we would have printed

[49:21] that and that didn't happen so that's

[49:23] why we're back today to get some a

[49:26] better way to roll this out to get more

[49:28] information out to the public

[49:30] um and you know to figure out how we do

[49:33] this so that the council so it comes to

[49:35] the council at the appropriate time

[49:37] before we move forward with doing the

[49:38] work we've had some calls you know

[49:40] downstairs and we've directed them to

[49:42] the city code

[49:43] 161-21 where it defines white goods and

[49:46] has bulky washers dry refrigerators it

[49:49] is in the city code it's always been in

[49:50] the city code

[49:52] and we have not a mayor stated we have

[49:55] not enforced anything it was on the

[49:57] schedule and it's highlighted on the

[49:59] schedule as a normal pickup day with the

[50:01] weight Goods attached

[50:04] um but anybody who's putting white goods

[50:05] out right now we're collecting them on a

[50:07] weekly basis if they're out there

[50:08] there's been no change in service but we

[50:12] were getting to the end on time slip by

[50:14] we're getting that we had to get the

[50:15] schedule out if we put the schedule out

[50:17] without that on the schedule it would

[50:20] have been costly because then we had to

[50:21] fall and schedules back in and then

[50:23] recruit them with the white goods on so

[50:25] we did print it with the white goods

[50:27] designation on once a month so if we did

[50:31] not everything would have been out

[50:32] nobody would have known and we won this

[50:34] would have waited until 24 to do it and

[50:36] gone through another year of putting the

[50:37] truck out there on a weekly basis

[50:39] so we did you know we did put it out a

[50:43] little prematurely because we were under

[50:44] the gun to get the schedules out

[50:49] just a concern so we're asking for a

[50:52] public hearing here

[50:54] so if the public were to come out and

[50:55] say we're against this once per month

[50:57] pick up I'm just using that what are we

[51:00] going to do we're going to go back and

[51:01] print this reprint this

[51:03] we'll have to put the word out that

[51:04] we're just going to continue to do what

[51:05] we're doing and that's it I don't know

[51:07] how the public would you know it's

[51:09] weekly versus monthly when does it come

[51:11] up like we said we hardly pick up any of

[51:15] these anyway and these big bulky items

[51:17] are being taken by The Scrappers in the

[51:19] middle of the night

[51:22] yeah that was my concern I mean is like

[51:24] uh we you know we are doing it we're

[51:26] confident public but we already did the

[51:28] work

[51:28] so what is the purpose of the console

[51:30] here at this point what is the purpose

[51:32] of the council at this point in time

[51:34] will they show that we can actually

[51:36] change the operations in the field and

[51:39] reduce the cost of garbage collection

[51:41] that's correct but then we already

[51:42] printed this we're telling the public

[51:44] it's once per month pickup but now we're

[51:46] doing the the work to make it the

[51:50] legality of it

[51:51] bro

[51:55] so would so

[51:57] what was the like is there you know

[52:00] being that we're in the position that we're in here is this you know is

[52:05] there a way to kind of uh you know

[52:07] transition it kind of it sounds like

[52:09] you're you're saying that there's no

[52:11] change of service

[52:12] so other than let's print it on the card

[52:14] we have not changed the collection

[52:16] service for the white goods we are still

[52:18] going out if we're called because we

[52:20] have a rack truck that goes up if they

[52:23] uh the truck calls and says there are

[52:25] way Goods out and then truck goes and

[52:27] picks it up

[52:29] we have not changed the actual service

[52:32] provided to the taxpayers of the city of

[52:33] sanctity based on the schedule we're

[52:36] still picking up on weekly basis

[52:41] but how do people know that how would

[52:43] they know they sell the schedule how

[52:45] would they know

[52:48] there's a lot of things we didn't

[52:50] discuss in the code I mean we're not

[52:51] supposed to pick up trash that's in a

[52:52] dark bag right now we pick up

[52:54] everybody's Treasures in a dark pack

[52:55] city code States it should be in a clear

[52:57] bag

[52:58] I pick it up

[52:59] pick up every trash bag that's a black

[53:01] bag that I can't see what's in there

[53:03] city code does say we have to pick up

[53:05] clear bags I don't think you can buy

[53:06] clear bags anymore

[53:08] so maybe it's time that we really look

[53:10] at our city code and make some

[53:12] adjustments to this whole city code

[53:17] [Music]

[53:19] any other questions comments on that

[53:22] yeah so so we want to go to public

[53:25] hearing into Mr Moon Baron's point if

[53:27] the public says absolutely not

[53:29] then our recourse is to still move

[53:31] forward with what we printed on the if if the public hearings is absolutely

[53:37] not in the city council wants to not do

[53:38] it like this will reprint the cards and

[53:40] we'll take it off the car

[53:41] well we're just going to continue to do

[53:43] what we're doing now

[53:45] to put it up it gets picked up

[53:48] and so then this then the car becomes

[53:51] non-void

[53:52] um that that particular thing on which

[53:55] your garbage is picked up is marked on

[53:57] that car and again we have talked about

[54:00] this for over a year of trying to

[54:02] improve efficiencies in the garbage

[54:04] collection and this is one of the items

[54:08] I'm asking the council to move this

[54:10] forward and hold a public hearing aid I

[54:13] don't disagree we've been talking for a

[54:14] year unfortunately though the process

[54:16] didn't go the way the process should

[54:17] have we have been talking about for a

[54:19] year and it didn't come before the

[54:20] council in order to change the code so I

[54:22] have to tell you that I am taking

[54:23] exception to that

[54:28] and I there's other ways that we could

[54:29] have like worked with Scrappers perhaps

[54:31] to make a list have them fall I mean

[54:33] there's there's innovative ways that

[54:35] have actually been given to me since

[54:36] I've been doing phone calls and all of

[54:38] this would have come forward in the

[54:39] public hearing before we printed our

[54:41] schedules so that mayor I have to tell

[54:44] you is is bothersome for me that you

[54:46] know that it didn't come from the

[54:48] council in order to change the code

[54:49] which is how it's supposed to happen

[54:51] and that's why I came back again because

[54:53] there were people that didn't understand

[54:55] of the council

[54:57] so at any time in the last year you

[54:59] wanted to go before the council you

[55:01] could have put it on the agenda it

[55:03] wasn't for me to put on the agenda I was

[55:04] I went to one meeting and that was the

[55:06] only meeting I was ever invited to and

[55:08] so those talks obviously continued and

[55:11] then it came here and when it got to the

[55:13] agenda it was not me who put the engine

[55:15] No Agenda items are forwarded to me and

[55:17] then we can say yes or no and going

[55:19] forward

[55:20] we'll have to make sure that everything

[55:22] has been done properly before it gets on

[55:23] the agenda

[55:28] any other questions or comments concerns

[55:30] around this item

[55:36] Okay so

[55:42] I guess yes

[55:48] I just want to make sure so I'm only

[55:50] taking that moment to pause because I'm

[55:53] but it seems like what we're talking

[55:54] about is

[55:56] um just the the timeline into what the

[56:00] cards had to be printed versus in the

[56:03] process of what usually

[56:05] um what is supposed to happen in order

[56:07] to do that that's just kind of source so

[56:09] work but as a body we're not

[56:14] um

[56:15] we're we are in agreement that with uh

[56:20] input from the public hearing or in

[56:22] agreement that this might be a more

[56:25] efficient way to collect the white goods

[56:27] it's just the process of what we've got

[56:28] here what we're saying that's correct

[56:30] okay all right well I just wanted to

[56:32] meet you there for viewers and everyone

[56:34] that it's more about the process than

[56:37] what we're saying so

[56:39] um it entertaining motion to uh for

[56:41] public hearing

[56:50] okay

[56:52] hold us a favor

[56:59] okay next item on the agenda is a

[57:03] reminder of modification for article two

[57:06] of the city code for partner

[57:08] certifications use public hearing loss

[57:10] on the 9th Chris morning

[57:20] good evening everyone it's just a

[57:22] reminder for the changes for the

[57:24] certificate of use ordinance this has

[57:27] already been through public hearing it's

[57:29] already been through committee once

[57:30] before

[57:31] it had been adjourned from the last

[57:33] committee meeting so that we could take

[57:35] this together with the zoning changes

[57:37] that busy I'll be presenting later for

[57:39] medical facilities

[57:40] the proposed revisions haven't changed

[57:43] much since the first committee meeting

[57:45] that this went through we did updates in

[57:47] the gender language

[57:49] some of the Antiquated language on the

[57:50] code which we could try to do we're

[57:52] going to be

[57:53] a piece of the city code and we did

[57:56] provide a more specific definition for

[57:58] the Cannabis uses and the tobacco uses

[58:02] some of the internal feedback that we

[58:04] had received was that it was perhaps

[58:07] convey that it would Encompass all the

[58:09] businesses we were trying to collect my

[58:11] understanding has noticed didn't go out

[58:13] before the public hearing or all of the

[58:16] existing vape shops and CBD shops that

[58:19] may be affected by the ordinance and

[58:22] that there was very limited comment

[58:24] received from the public with respect to

[58:26] the changes

[58:30] could you just talk a little bit about

[58:31] the language change like what was for

[58:34] people were more specific

[58:36] um so no maybe not I shouldn't say

[58:38] specifically just to give a better idea

[58:40] sure for sure yeah the code um uh the

[58:42] code used a lot of language that was

[58:45] gender

[58:46] um and then it also often referred to

[58:48] servants so we didn't strike that

[58:50] language and change it to something a

[58:52] little bit more generalized

[58:54] uh and then with respect to the actual

[58:56] definition

[58:57] we just wanted to be clear that

[59:01] uh you know with regard to the tobacco

[59:04] and cannabis uses that

[59:06] it cannabinoid as well just based off of

[59:08] some of the state definitions and how

[59:10] they've been treating the uses what we

[59:13] had originally provided just wasn't

[59:14] specific enough which it would have left

[59:16] out businesses that should be included

[59:20] so we just kind of broaden it to cast

[59:22] The Wider neck yeah yeah okay let's go

[59:24] based off of uh based off of what the

[59:27] business is primary source of income is

[59:29] so it would be considered you know a

[59:33] vape or a tobacco retail or a tobacco

[59:36] consumption or cannabis consumption in

[59:39] retail if if their primary source of

[59:42] income at retail are part of those

[59:44] specific products for the perfect

[59:46] paraphernalia related to those products

[59:48] and then they would be required to get a

[59:50] certificate of use there are some

[59:52] businesses that they might sell those

[59:54] products ancillary to what their Prime

[59:55] like the grocery store that has

[59:57] cigarettes or a convenience store that

[59:59] has cigarettes even though convenience

[1:00:01] stores are bad examples to register but

[1:00:05] um uh you know if it's their primary

[1:00:07] source of income at retail the festival

[1:00:09] we want to capture is particularly use

[1:00:13] how do we determine that because it's

[1:00:16] one thing to say the primary you know

[1:00:18] what their what their what they had to

[1:00:20] stop primarily or what they you know but

[1:00:23] like the primary source of retail they

[1:00:24] would have to uh

[1:00:26] [Music]

[1:00:28] the kind of disclose those records to

[1:00:30] the city so we can see okay you're

[1:00:31] selling you know 70 of your sales are

[1:00:34] you know CBD or something like that

[1:00:36] that's how we read the determination

[1:00:37] sure yeah it would be something that

[1:00:39] would come up during the enforcement

[1:00:40] process so if one of our officers had

[1:00:43] determined that it appears that they

[1:00:45] have their primary income Source would

[1:00:47] be one of those items you know they

[1:00:48] would be ticketed as part of their

[1:00:50] defense that they provide that

[1:00:52] documentation to the city to show that

[1:00:54] fact that they will be required to

[1:00:55] register or if they go to notice a

[1:00:57] violation even without a ticket to court

[1:01:00] they could provide that documentation to

[1:01:02] show that they would not be required to

[1:01:03] register same kind of the same thing no

[1:01:06] appreciate it and any other comments

[1:01:08] questions on this

[1:01:10] [Music]

[1:01:24] so third and uh final agenda item from

[1:01:26] government operations is clearing the

[1:01:28] sport New York State Clean Slate act

[1:01:30] that's Mr Williams thank you so after

[1:01:32] careful consideration and reflection on

[1:01:34] the comments that were provided during

[1:01:36] our previous council meeting if that was

[1:01:38] appropriate to bring this item back with

[1:01:40] the full presence of the council I know

[1:01:43] one of the comments that were made by

[1:01:45] Miss tutorial one of the first thing

[1:01:46] here tonight was with respect to just

[1:01:49] languages and how this as a legislative

[1:01:51] item that's evolving the language could

[1:01:53] continue to change and I just wanted to

[1:01:55] make it blindly clear putting forth this

[1:01:57] declaration of support would be into

[1:02:00] what this text currently is at this day

[1:02:03] so

[1:02:04] [Music]

[1:02:04] um

[1:02:06] that's that's my comment I'd like to see

[1:02:07] this Florida Lottery committee open to

[1:02:10] discussion

[1:02:12] any other comments concerns around that

[1:02:16] you know

[1:02:18] so second who's in favor fine

[1:02:23] operations

[1:02:30] call to order finance and the fourth

[1:02:32] item is the healthcare workers bonus

[1:02:34] program Grant Chief Mourinho

[1:02:39] foreign

[1:03:04] healthcare workers bonus program

[1:03:08] um it's really the state legislation it

[1:03:12] was rolled out in August of 22.

[1:03:16] where the uh for governor Coco

[1:03:19] and everybody will go off decided to get

[1:03:22] back to the healthcare workers and it's

[1:03:25] a program where people that work certain

[1:03:29] times both a pandemic certain investing

[1:03:32] periods could receive up to three

[1:03:34] thousand dollar bonus and there's all a

[1:03:36] lot of

[1:03:37] criteria that you have to be

[1:03:39] Schenectady fire department meets the

[1:03:42] criteria to be an employer that offers

[1:03:45] both doesn't offer that participates

[1:03:48] here's the thing with this

[1:03:51] um it's legislation you really got to do

[1:03:53] it if you don't do it you can choose not

[1:03:56] to do it

[1:03:57] um but then there's a thousand dollar

[1:03:59] per employee required

[1:04:02] so I don't think you want to get a job

[1:04:05] uh so what it is is there certain dozen

[1:04:09] periods we've done all the groundwork

[1:04:11] um so we know who's going who's eligible

[1:04:15] for the fullness there are two vesting

[1:04:17] periods that it'll be three thousand

[1:04:19] dollars per person the state once we get

[1:04:21] all the paperwork in the state will send

[1:04:23] the money to the city and then be

[1:04:25] distributed to all the members

[1:04:31] so that's the presentation I don't know

[1:04:33] if there are any questions in the

[1:04:34] legislation I kind of spelled it out

[1:04:36] better questions

[1:04:42] oh no I was just saying this um

[1:04:45] it seems like a really great thing and I

[1:04:47] know that this uh

[1:04:49] I think this was like maybe like the

[1:04:51] second version of this that was supposed

[1:04:52] to come out from the state if I remember

[1:04:53] I'm not really sure

[1:04:55] um but I just knew that um in the

[1:04:56] earlier conversations after you know

[1:04:58] during the pandemic

[1:05:00] um you know us taking the opportunity to

[1:05:03] demonstrate the value of our healthcare

[1:05:05] workers I think we should do that almost

[1:05:06] every chance that we get

[1:05:08] um and this is State money that's coming

[1:05:11] into the city

[1:05:12] um so you know you know I think that

[1:05:15] that's a really good thing

[1:05:17] I did have a question and I did look

[1:05:19] over at them so I appreciate you sending

[1:05:21] the link and giving the opportunity to

[1:05:22] look at that and my question was about

[1:05:24] uh employees who were hired like

[1:05:28] um within that time not at the beginning

[1:05:30] of the time framework within that time

[1:05:31] frame and so

[1:05:33] um what would their opportunity to

[1:05:36] benefit from this be that was a great

[1:05:37] question and I did look into that

[1:05:40] um those employees have different

[1:05:42] investing periods too to

[1:05:46] so they may not be able to participate

[1:05:48] in the first one the second one that's

[1:05:50] where the vast majority of the

[1:05:51] membership will participate in but there

[1:05:54] are I think a total of five right so so

[1:05:57] we'll be watching that and when they

[1:05:59] attend to those dressing periods we'll

[1:06:01] be applying for them

[1:06:02] [Music]

[1:06:03] and there's no match for the city this

[1:06:05] is all at State given the money thank

[1:06:07] you and

[1:06:10] see when this was rolled out there was a

[1:06:12] lot of confusion it took um originally they said the city

[1:06:17] was going to have to first pay the money

[1:06:20] and then be a reimbursed but that's not

[1:06:22] the case

[1:06:23] oh great that's great yeah and that's

[1:06:26] right there's a time frame uh that we

[1:06:29] have to we have to get all this stuff so

[1:06:31] everything's got to be into this state

[1:06:34] it's by March 2nd okay and um and then

[1:06:37] we have to distribute the money here to

[1:06:40] these out there we receive federal so

[1:06:42] it's a neural time frame

[1:06:47] go ahead please I want us a comment uh

[1:06:49] covet has

[1:06:51] [Music]

[1:06:53] significantly affected the workforce in

[1:06:55] general and I think there's no other

[1:06:57] industry

[1:06:58] Health Care industry that has seen the trends negatively with keeping

[1:07:02] workforces in place and a lot of

[1:07:05] hospitals are struggling but I think

[1:07:07] this program that I've been recipient of

[1:07:09] and being a worker in the healthcare

[1:07:11] industry a very small consideration for

[1:07:14] the work that year firefighters have

[1:07:16] done and continue to do on a continuous

[1:07:18] basis so thank you for taking the

[1:07:20] ownership to submit this program and

[1:07:21] make sure that your your staff will run

[1:07:23] for it thank you

[1:07:26] Chief thank you for all the importance

[1:07:28] of this program and always thank you for

[1:07:30] looking out for your department and your

[1:07:32] startup and two senior Department

[1:07:33] appreciate it

[1:07:35] thank you if there's no other question I

[1:07:38] may have a motion please for the

[1:07:40] purposes of passing this

[1:07:42] um there hasn't been I thought to Mr

[1:07:44] Ferrari about this a budget line that's

[1:07:46] been created for this so my suggestion

[1:07:48] would be what gets passed would be

[1:07:52] um creating the budget line for the

[1:07:54] funds having been received for the

[1:07:57] healthcare worker bonus program and

[1:07:59] authorizing the expenditure to those

[1:08:01] employees who are eligible

[1:08:04] to receive set funds pursue into the

[1:08:07] terms of that that program

[1:08:10] absolutely

[1:08:12] second all in favor aye thank you again thank you

[1:08:19] um

[1:08:26] the next item is the 2023 capital budget

[1:08:29] reappropriation Mr Ferrari

[1:08:34] thank you president borderfield to the

[1:08:36] Council of the mayor what we're doing

[1:08:38] here in this legislation as you know as

[1:08:40] a part of the 2023 adopted capital

[1:08:43] budget there was a million dollars set

[1:08:45] aside for the purchase of four Packers

[1:08:47] of garbage trucks for the cities

[1:08:49] connecting

[1:08:50] um

[1:08:51] and as you know that we uh we don't go

[1:08:54] out to ban these things so we won't get

[1:08:56] the money until May of of this year and

[1:08:59] Manufacturing delivery of the trucks

[1:09:00] have taken 18 to 24 months so if we wait

[1:09:04] a minute we won't get these trucks till

[1:09:06] October 2024. uh we do this I think last

[1:09:09] year too when we did we we're a plan is

[1:09:12] to borrow the money from our fund

[1:09:14] balance uh and you guys so that we

[1:09:16] cannot put the purchase order in as soon

[1:09:19] as possible and get the trucks delivered

[1:09:22] uh you know before you know before

[1:09:24] anybody else can that's the whole secret

[1:09:25] of this thing and put the purchases in

[1:09:28] so we can get an earlier delivery uh

[1:09:30] once we make the sale in um of May of

[1:09:33] this year we return the money back to

[1:09:35] the general fund for that

[1:09:39] questions

[1:09:42] if there's a question so second all in

[1:09:45] favor

[1:09:46] the next item is the 2023 budget and

[1:09:49] position and reappropriation yes uh this

[1:09:52] is uh this is from the ID Department

[1:09:55] what we're looking to do here is uh uh

[1:09:57] is to uh move the land administrator

[1:10:01] which is mostly uh software type guy and

[1:10:04] what we're looking to do is uh is due to

[1:10:07] the increase of like cyber threats and

[1:10:09] greater need for communication between

[1:10:11] the city and departments especially now

[1:10:13] with the police department the new

[1:10:14] accent accent system uh the ID

[1:10:17] Department believe that they need a

[1:10:19] higher level of Technology person in it

[1:10:21] so what we're looking to do is to remove

[1:10:25] the land administrative position and

[1:10:26] increase it to a chief technology

[1:10:29] officer which which has been approved by

[1:10:31] Civil Service

[1:10:32] we've we've posted a job we've got some

[1:10:36] applications what we're looking to do is

[1:10:39] uh uh create this Chief technology job

[1:10:42] officer one of the things I want to note

[1:10:44] is that there's no change in the salary

[1:10:45] or the budget line but we're just just

[1:10:48] moving things around the new uh the new

[1:10:51] technology officer and his biggest thing

[1:10:54] will be a disaster recovery fault

[1:10:56] tolerance Sonic managing Sonic walls

[1:10:59] managed in the Cisco Tyler networks

[1:11:02] cyber security preparedness anti-spyware

[1:11:05] and the list that goes on and on because

[1:11:08] of Marriott I think you know the number

[1:11:10] of threats that we see every day is

[1:11:12] increasing uh at a large number

[1:11:15] so we're asking to to make this change

[1:11:18] for us

[1:11:20] go ahead please uh the rest of your

[1:11:22] knowledge this change will be able to

[1:11:25] address any future I.T needs that the

[1:11:27] police department will have we're hoping

[1:11:29] that's what we're hoping for uh you know

[1:11:30] I know what you have the specialized ad

[1:11:32] of course uh you know we also hoping

[1:11:35] that in the future also get more it guys

[1:11:37] involved with that too

[1:11:39] thank you thank you

[1:11:41] so is this a civil service position the

[1:11:44] um yes the Civil Service yep

[1:11:46] [Music]

[1:11:49] thank you

[1:11:52] any other questions

[1:11:55] second all in favor all right thank you very much thank you the next

[1:12:01] item and announcement for cdbg slash CV

[1:12:05] small business grant is the other

[1:12:09] good evening everyone

[1:12:11] um this request is related to the cdbg

[1:12:14] CV funds that we received through the

[1:12:16] cares act from the housing of the

[1:12:18] Department of Housing and Urban

[1:12:19] Development so we are requesting to

[1:12:22] allocate two hundred thousand dollars

[1:12:25] for small business grants so as part of

[1:12:27] the economic recovery aspect of what we

[1:12:30] are doing with that Grant you might

[1:12:32] remember we've already funded this in

[1:12:34] partnership with the Community Loan Fund

[1:12:36] in the past the assisted over 64 local

[1:12:39] small businesses with grants of up to

[1:12:41] ten thousand dollars we're finding that

[1:12:44] many businesses still identify the

[1:12:46] effects of copin 19 as a as a barrier to

[1:12:49] their success and have needs that have

[1:12:51] you know shifted slightly since 2020 but

[1:12:54] are still needs and impact from the

[1:12:56] pandemic so we're basically just looking

[1:12:59] for

[1:13:00] um right now we're just looking for a

[1:13:02] five-day public comment period

[1:13:04] um to allocate this funding for the

[1:13:07] small business assistance program it's a

[1:13:09] five-day comment period because it's

[1:13:11] cares act funding so it's emergency

[1:13:13] funding essentially usually would be a

[1:13:16] 30-day common period as you know when we

[1:13:18] make changes to our regular HUD

[1:13:20] allocations so this is just for the

[1:13:22] comment period and then we will come

[1:13:23] back to you to ask to authorize the

[1:13:26] mayor to enter a contract with the

[1:13:28] community along one

[1:13:31] go ahead please so in discussing this

[1:13:34] um we talked about you know how you how

[1:13:36] businesses know that it's available so

[1:13:38] it's just not businesses were just

[1:13:39] really familiar with us and

[1:13:42] um so can you talk a little bit about

[1:13:44] how to make sure we do our public

[1:13:45] Outreach to make sure small businesses

[1:13:47] are aware yeah I mean the Community Loan

[1:13:49] Fund has a large network of businesses

[1:13:51] that they work with them and provide

[1:13:53] training for and that's also part of

[1:13:55] this program that businesses who

[1:13:57] um work through the grant also have the

[1:14:00] opportunity to attend different

[1:14:01] trainings and things that they offer and

[1:14:03] then we also have a list of businesses

[1:14:05] and a network that's building

[1:14:08] um and we would yeah we would intend to

[1:14:09] put it out in a lot of different

[1:14:11] platforms whether it be a newspaper or

[1:14:13] you know social media to make it public

[1:14:16] that you know that their systems is

[1:14:18] available so we'll we will definitely

[1:14:21] put in the newspaper yeah yep

[1:14:25] question any other questions

[1:14:28] motion to move forward is second all in

[1:14:30] favor

[1:14:32] the next item is authorization to enter

[1:14:35] an agreement that this is the house for

[1:14:37] 100 000 for neighborhood stabilization

[1:14:39] rental rehab program Miss Diaz thank you

[1:14:43] yes along the same line CBG CD funds

[1:14:46] we're looking at our new

[1:14:48] our neighbor area funding and this

[1:14:51] wasn't

[1:14:52] um to a specific project at the time

[1:14:54] that was just allocated and we are going

[1:14:55] to see sort of what goes to the top as

[1:14:57] priorities one of the things that a lot

[1:15:00] of our housing Partners have been

[1:15:01] expressing is the lack of availability

[1:15:03] of affordable housing and some of the

[1:15:06] challenges and difficulties with rental

[1:15:09] arrears that accrued over the course of

[1:15:11] the pandemic the eviction moratorium and some of the issues that are facing a

[1:15:16] lot of our our housing developers our

[1:15:18] housing Partners like the Bethesda house

[1:15:20] who is really working with our most

[1:15:23] vulnerable populations so what this

[1:15:26] proposal is is to allocate a hundred

[1:15:28] thousand dollars in cdbg CB funding to

[1:15:30] the Bethesda House of Schenectady to pre

[1:15:33] and administer new affordable housing

[1:15:35] landlord assistance program so this

[1:15:38] program would essentially support

[1:15:39] landlords to address some of the issues

[1:15:42] that prevent them from from placing

[1:15:45] families and individuals into housing

[1:15:48] there would be a set of criteria that

[1:15:52] would be set up to ensure that the forms

[1:15:54] and required documentation

[1:15:57] for the eligibility of the program or

[1:15:59] met and was in you know in accordance

[1:16:01] with the with the CB funding

[1:16:02] unfortunately Kim Shepard couldn't be

[1:16:04] here tonight she was Ill so she would

[1:16:07] have been able to explain a little bit

[1:16:08] better around some of the issues that

[1:16:10] they're dealing with I know we just got

[1:16:13] updated numbers from the coordinated

[1:16:16] entry

[1:16:17] um through cares and there are currently

[1:16:20] 334 households and which includes 94

[1:16:24] families that are eligible for housing

[1:16:26] assistance program and they're on the waiting list essentially

[1:16:30] we're just waiting for units to be

[1:16:32] available for housing so there is this

[1:16:35] is really um you know deals with housing

[1:16:38] instability

[1:16:39] um I think I included some of the

[1:16:41] information vetted landlords will be

[1:16:43] provided financial assistance this would

[1:16:45] total no more than ten thousand dollars

[1:16:47] per unit

[1:16:48] it would come with a period of

[1:16:51] affordability in that agreement so this

[1:16:53] would ensure that the assisted units

[1:16:56] remain affordable and accessible to

[1:16:58] individuals and families at or below 50

[1:17:01] percent of the area median income and

[1:17:04] this would be for at least three years

[1:17:05] that period of affordability would be

[1:17:08] tracked so that we can ensure that you

[1:17:10] know it's it's serving the population

[1:17:11] that we would need it too

[1:17:16] any other questions good so I'm just

[1:17:21] it seems like if the the families that

[1:17:24] we're speaking of that were around that

[1:17:25] waiting list

[1:17:27] I'm wondering if the resources will be

[1:17:30] better

[1:17:31] um allocated directly to their families

[1:17:33] or because it seems like if we're

[1:17:35] talking about landlords this is too

[1:17:38] um

[1:17:40] assist landlords with their property in

[1:17:42] order to to is this thing to get into

[1:17:44] the code or get it to a place where

[1:17:45] families can

[1:17:47] um you know live within it and then

[1:17:48] safely or it's like yeah so the issue is

[1:17:51] that so there's the codes there's the codes issues where we would

[1:17:55] any money that we invest in we will make

[1:17:58] sure that the the property is up to code

[1:18:01] um so there's that issue but then

[1:18:02] there's the housing quality standards

[1:18:04] which through the Section 8 program

[1:18:06] units have to meet in order to to house

[1:18:08] anybody in the unit so sometimes it's

[1:18:11] kind of minor repairs that need to be

[1:18:14] made in order to make a unit available

[1:18:17] and that's really what we're talking

[1:18:18] about because because of the housing

[1:18:21] instability right now like there's a lot

[1:18:23] of people with vouchers that just there

[1:18:25] is literally no unit for them to go into

[1:18:27] so we're we're trying to address it and

[1:18:30] I think it's working with the landlord

[1:18:32] specifically that work with Bethesda

[1:18:35] house and scap and the other housing

[1:18:36] Partners so that they they know who they

[1:18:39] are

[1:18:39] um and they're going to make sure that

[1:18:41] they're vetted and that you know it's meeting the requirements that we

[1:18:46] need to move to use the funding towards

[1:18:48] um towards that effort of just getting

[1:18:50] more units available I think a lot of um

[1:18:53] you know with the eviction moratorium

[1:18:55] and the rental of years that build up

[1:18:57] during coven the landlords just don't

[1:18:59] have the funding to kind of fix some of

[1:19:02] these sometimes it's a minor thing

[1:19:05] um and that's why this is only up to ten

[1:19:06] thousand if the scope of work is larger

[1:19:09] than that the landlord would have to

[1:19:10] provide that match to actually pursue

[1:19:12] the work

[1:19:13] um so it's it's kind of trying to

[1:19:15] instead of a incentivize making housing

[1:19:18] available for the people who need it the

[1:19:19] most in the city

[1:19:24] my one question was just due to language

[1:19:27] I think similar to what Mr Farley

[1:19:29] constantly identifies I think committee

[1:19:32] and then showing a proven history of

[1:19:34] renting to low income or low to moderate

[1:19:37] families is important so would you be

[1:19:39] open to adjusting the language yeah and

[1:19:42] that is something that we'll be working

[1:19:44] on like once this gets approved then we

[1:19:46] really have to work on a contract and

[1:19:48] finalize the criteria and that will be

[1:19:50] absolutely something that we would we

[1:19:52] could incorporate and then secondly uh

[1:19:55] always trying to make sure we take care

[1:19:58] of the the city first I think that's a

[1:20:00] powerful narrative so would you be

[1:20:02] opposed to having

[1:20:05] homeowners prioritize using construction

[1:20:07] agencies that originally within the city

[1:20:10] so you might have noticed there was some

[1:20:12] language about that in here we did have

[1:20:14] the conversation about Bethesda house

[1:20:17] working with um the affirmative action

[1:20:19] office and the construction skills

[1:20:21] program to kind of incorporate into

[1:20:24] these repairs where possible so that is

[1:20:26] definitely something that has been in

[1:20:28] discussion and will likely also be part

[1:20:30] of the agreement once we get to that

[1:20:31] point thank you

[1:20:34] go ahead please so since we're assisting

[1:20:37] landlords with these funds and I know

[1:20:39] that your the language here says that

[1:20:41] we'll keep them affordable but is there

[1:20:43] anything in place

[1:20:44] um to say that they can't raise the rent

[1:20:46] more than a certain percentage like you

[1:20:48] know five percent of some other

[1:20:49] municipalities do I know we can't we do

[1:20:51] that can't do that with everything but

[1:20:52] in terms of this funding because

[1:20:55] um generally speaking when people

[1:20:56] improve their property then they tend to

[1:20:58] want to raise the rent because the

[1:21:00] property has been improved but they're

[1:21:01] improving the new property for the

[1:21:03] benefits coming from the city so will

[1:21:05] there be anything in place that says you

[1:21:06] cannot raise the rent

[1:21:09] um you know the numbers we've heard 200

[1:21:10] or whatever uh and there or is there a

[1:21:13] stipulation is can there be a

[1:21:15] stipulation how much within a certain

[1:21:17] time frame you cannot raise the rent so

[1:21:19] much

[1:21:20] yeah I think that that's probably

[1:21:22] already built into the agreements that

[1:21:25] with the subsidies that they're

[1:21:26] currently that Bethesda house currently

[1:21:28] uses with landlords I I would assume

[1:21:30] that that's already we would we could

[1:21:32] confirm that but I would think that that

[1:21:35] would already be built into their

[1:21:37] agreement with landlords when they're

[1:21:38] working with them but we can confirm

[1:21:40] that with um Bethesda yep all right

[1:21:43] thank you

[1:21:43] here sorry go ahead please let's send a

[1:21:46] comment on that question uh that

[1:21:48] President Porterfield brought up in my

[1:21:50] experience in dealing with HUD in a

[1:21:51] prior life if

[1:21:53] um the units have to be are geared

[1:21:56] towards affordability to a certain Ami

[1:21:59] which 50 50 there's an equation that has

[1:22:04] to be done at the HUD level to determine

[1:22:07] based on the area median income what

[1:22:09] affordability would be for rental prices

[1:22:11] for those units so it's already baked

[1:22:14] into the Ami for the Target groups

[1:22:18] so the rent can be it can't go up so

[1:22:21] much it's always based on what the area

[1:22:24] made in immediate income is for the

[1:22:27] particular group that's being targeted

[1:22:29] 50 Ami or below

[1:22:33] go ahead and we'll just say that

[1:22:35] um maybe it's been updated recently but

[1:22:38] that formula that was using

[1:22:40] um for some time now uh I don't know if

[1:22:43] it really reflects you know someone's

[1:22:46] true uh means quality in life as far as we look at that threshold I think

[1:22:50] it was a little outdated um you know if

[1:22:55] I remember correctly

[1:22:57] um also

[1:22:59] it was ten thousand dollars

[1:23:02] per unit right so but not for up two

[1:23:06] tenth of two again so I guess I'm always

[1:23:10] trying to think about you know when I

[1:23:14] say you know landlord and you know it's

[1:23:16] connected you're thinking about that you

[1:23:18] know you know more mom and pop landlord

[1:23:21] right right I mean that's you know I'm

[1:23:24] just trying to see that you know that

[1:23:25] this is something that benefits that

[1:23:27] because if it's up to ten thousand per

[1:23:29] unit but not per landlord then I if I

[1:23:32] have multiple units and you know I can

[1:23:35] take up a lot of this resource right I

[1:23:38] mean and I think and this is actually a

[1:23:41] very limited amount of funding so we're

[1:23:43] requesting 100 000 so that could be ten

[1:23:45] properties a little more depending on

[1:23:46] and it really is going to be a

[1:23:48] case-by-case Solutions into looking in

[1:23:50] that but no I I wouldn't think that it

[1:23:52] would go to like one landlord with 10

[1:23:54] units so that's not the intention

[1:23:56] um and I also just want to clarify that you

[1:24:00] know Bethesda house is really working

[1:24:02] with the most vulnerable populations

[1:24:03] these are this is specifically for

[1:24:05] homeless prevention so it's not really I

[1:24:09] mean that's the targeted population

[1:24:12] I agree and appreciate that the

[1:24:15] population I'm thinking more on the uh

[1:24:18] landlord I'm just you know receiving of

[1:24:20] these funds I just think about like you

[1:24:22] know how do we make sure that we are

[1:24:24] maximizing these type of programs

[1:24:26] because anytime reality is anytime we're

[1:24:27] working with systems um people who are

[1:24:30] you know

[1:24:32] uh you know

[1:24:33] inequitable outcomes are produced due to

[1:24:36] the nature of the system itself right so

[1:24:38] kind of to president porterfield's

[1:24:39] earlier Point around people who are very

[1:24:42] familiar with us as a city

[1:24:44] um it's being big landlords who might be

[1:24:47] very familiar with um

[1:24:49] Bethesda housing or not just them but as

[1:24:52] far as you know in the know around these

[1:24:54] greens and how it's fine so I just want

[1:24:55] to make sure that you know and I don't

[1:24:57] think that that's necessarily a

[1:24:58] conversation for you here and now but I

[1:25:00] think it's important to note that we

[1:25:02] just want make sure that we are

[1:25:03] maximizing this by uh how can people

[1:25:07] yeah no that's that's definitely been

[1:25:09] part of the discussion as well and I

[1:25:11] think

[1:25:12] it's um yeah I think it's going to be I

[1:25:16] think that this is really responds until

[1:25:17] a set of prices yes

[1:25:20] and is trying to also address some of

[1:25:24] the tension that's built up right

[1:25:25] between and there's a lot of landlords

[1:25:27] who don't want to work with you know

[1:25:29] some of our housing providers because of

[1:25:31] what happened in the last couple of

[1:25:32] years and we really need to rebuild

[1:25:35] those relationships and do something

[1:25:37] that's actually going to produce results

[1:25:39] for getting people housed in the city of

[1:25:41] Schenectady so that's what this really

[1:25:43] is and it's not a lot of funding but

[1:25:46] we're hoping that if it's successful and

[1:25:48] it's something that makes sense that and

[1:25:50] it's still needed that we can look to

[1:25:53] other resources to help support in the

[1:25:56] future very well done thank you thank

[1:25:59] you

[1:26:00] any other questions

[1:26:04] foreign

[1:26:18] yeah so this item was um we had an

[1:26:21] application in our last year's uh annual

[1:26:23] action plan and it was a proposal by the

[1:26:25] Schenectady Guyanese Community Center

[1:26:27] for fifty thousand dollars although it

[1:26:29] was something that I think you know was

[1:26:32] supported they really just needed to do

[1:26:34] a couple of things in order for us to be

[1:26:36] able to fund the initiative with one of which was getting city council

[1:26:40] approval so on January 18th this past

[1:26:43] month 2023

[1:26:45] um thus the Planning Commission approved

[1:26:47] project with that news we're we're

[1:26:50] looking to move forward to allocate 50

[1:26:53] 000 towards the community center and

[1:26:55] offer the mayor to enter an agreement

[1:26:58] with the Douglas community center this

[1:27:01] is to renovate their vegan building

[1:27:02] that's at 1218 6th Ave and it would

[1:27:06] provide a food pantry to Residents in

[1:27:09] Mount Pleasant and additionally provide

[1:27:11] traditional cultural programming for the

[1:27:14] community

[1:27:15] questions is there any contingencies

[1:27:18] attached to this

[1:27:20] or something so I think there is a

[1:27:22] budget attached as well

[1:27:25] um which it shows kind of what they've

[1:27:27] put in already so they've already done a

[1:27:29] significant amount of work

[1:27:30] um there's there's so you can see there

[1:27:33] that we're basically contributing 50 000

[1:27:36] to the remaining 115 000 project scope

[1:27:39] to complete the construction

[1:27:43] so the other funding is in place yes yep

[1:27:45] thank you

[1:27:47] any other questions

[1:27:50] some second all in favor all right

[1:27:54] the next item is a mending resolution

[1:27:58] 2022-214 to apply a one year time frame

[1:28:01] to Aquatic Center and Miracle on Craig

[1:28:05] Street Harbor allocation

[1:28:08] back in August of last year when we

[1:28:15] there were two agencies that we didn't

[1:28:18] apply near timeline

[1:28:20] we discussed this several weeks ago and

[1:28:23] we put it on hold because we wanted to

[1:28:25] make sure that we looked for both our

[1:28:28] locations and to make sure we're

[1:28:30] capturing all the agency that didn't

[1:28:33] have the timeline and these are the only

[1:28:34] two agencies that didn't have a timeline

[1:28:36] so the proposal proposal is to amend

[1:28:40] this resolution and to apply a one year

[1:28:43] Times line to these two agencies as was

[1:28:47] previously discussed

[1:28:48] since not only things

[1:28:53] questions

[1:28:56] seeing on morning second all in favor

[1:29:00] aye thank you

[1:29:02] the next item is a request authorization

[1:29:04] for 1.5 million dollars in hard mode

[1:29:07] funding for sidewalk Improvement

[1:29:10] I am a party

[1:29:11] thank you Mr chairman again submitting

[1:29:15] to the council request for some funding

[1:29:18] but the more I believe is a pragmatic

[1:29:22] component of this request is to put a

[1:29:25] fixed dollar amount on

[1:29:28] a sidewalk Improvement so that a

[1:29:32] homeowner knows what the number is uh

[1:29:36] it's kicked around now for four years

[1:29:40] maybe longer of doing these improvements

[1:29:45] on the streets where residents would

[1:29:47] petition come back to the city council

[1:29:50] after they got a number of signatures

[1:29:52] and then trying to come up with a

[1:29:55] formula that reflects

[1:29:59] something the city is going to

[1:30:00] contribute and there's something that's

[1:30:02] going to be the responsibility of the

[1:30:03] property owner

[1:30:06] engineering spends a lot of time doing

[1:30:08] calculations on these going back and

[1:30:11] forth everybody's is a little bit

[1:30:13] different uh

[1:30:15] we end up wasting a lot of time and

[1:30:18] effort on this and what I'm asking the

[1:30:22] council to do is put in place

[1:30:25] a fixed dollar amount per foot

[1:30:29] on the Frontage of your sidewalk and

[1:30:33] then when we go out to bid you know some

[1:30:35] are going to come in a little bit higher

[1:30:36] some will be a little bit lower but the

[1:30:38] city would pick up that variable cost

[1:30:42] and the council would again set the

[1:30:45] fixed dollar amount so the homeowner

[1:30:47] would know if you have a 50 foot

[1:30:51] Frontage if you have 100 foot front edge

[1:30:54] what your fee is and again the past

[1:30:58] practice has been when the work is done

[1:31:00] the homeowner could either pay for it

[1:31:03] in total really at the end of the year

[1:31:06] with that first tax bill or it goes on

[1:31:08] the tax bill for a period of time

[1:31:12] determined by the city council which I

[1:31:14] think you've used 10 years for the past

[1:31:17] their sidewalks could go easily 15 years

[1:31:21] depending on making it affordable and I

[1:31:24] think we've used the last one an

[1:31:27] interest rate of four percent but

[1:31:31] it's a good program there's a lot of

[1:31:34] interest in it in the city but we've

[1:31:37] gotten bogged down in the minutia of

[1:31:39] going back and forth arguing about these

[1:31:41] let's say an arguing discussing

[1:31:44] variations in

[1:31:47] what are minor

[1:31:49] uh design features on each individual

[1:31:53] property and I believe that's just

[1:31:56] holding up the ability of some

[1:31:58] neighborhoods or streets to move ahead

[1:32:00] with this and so asking for the council

[1:32:02] to come out uh send a message that

[1:32:06] you're agreeable to a fixed dollar

[1:32:08] amount and move ahead so that we can

[1:32:11] again take some of the streets that are

[1:32:13] in the pipeline now and then also

[1:32:15] encourage other

[1:32:17] streets to petition and commit and work

[1:32:21] with them to replace the sidewalks

[1:32:27] go ahead please so for um the fixed recommendations

[1:32:31] fixed cost of 55 per linear foot

[1:32:34] correct I think the ones that we've done

[1:32:36] in the past have been just above 55

[1:32:40] so it's

[1:32:43] very close to that

[1:32:47] um

[1:32:48] you could do 49.99 it's a sale tonight

[1:32:56] Mr wall can answer this question if not

[1:32:58] so

[1:32:59] um is there a like can would you be able

[1:33:02] to tell like an average cost of what it

[1:33:03] would be for an average home or is it

[1:33:05] just so different from all the homes and

[1:33:07] the properties in today's market yes

[1:33:14] yeah in today's market what we're

[1:33:16] looking at the camp and Earth's League

[1:33:17] the ones that we have done and then the

[1:33:19] average cost of somewhere between 80 and

[1:33:22] 115 depending on the complications

[1:33:27] but if you didn't find one in your phone

[1:33:29] okay

[1:33:31] and then and so we're seeing the city we

[1:33:33] cost it would cover 55 of them we would

[1:33:36] do 55 per month

[1:33:39] and

[1:33:40] then I just want to make sure that what

[1:33:43] we're doing is this would affect both

[1:33:45] programs we have the program this would

[1:33:46] be supplemental with that program

[1:33:48] because we already have a capital fund

[1:33:51] that is already created for sidewalks

[1:33:54] and these two would work together then

[1:33:56] okay

[1:33:59] go ahead please so

[1:34:01] it seems like this is is a matter of

[1:34:04] like just the way of the formula we've

[1:34:06] been using as a city just this is way

[1:34:09] more efficient effective way to do this

[1:34:11] and get it done we're doing a very

[1:34:12] complicated way and coming out with

[1:34:15] about 55 dollars I'm saying or I should

[1:34:20] say a little bit above or a little bit

[1:34:21] of low you can just set a fixed out is

[1:34:25] it 50 is it 55 something so that the

[1:34:29] homeowner

[1:34:31] they want their sidewalks done they want

[1:34:33] to know what it's going to cost them and

[1:34:36] adding 100 bucks here or taking

[1:34:39] something off there it complicates it

[1:34:42] and slows it down and I think it adds an

[1:34:44] element of frustration

[1:34:46] for the homeowners

[1:34:50] um answer

[1:34:53] we have a million dollars set a size of

[1:34:55] revolving one million views set aside

[1:34:58] it's basically this one by five little

[1:35:00] company van deck or are we going to do

[1:35:01] away with the Hamptons and again with

[1:35:04] the amount of need that is out there

[1:35:08] believe that that it's a step in the

[1:35:12] right direction but hopefully we would

[1:35:13] again use that and be coming back to you

[1:35:16] seeking more funding in the future that

[1:35:19] would get us you know the rate we've

[1:35:21] been doing it

[1:35:22] uh

[1:35:24] be able to do it for a period of Time

[1:35:26] begin to get a broader buy-in from

[1:35:29] residents in the city

[1:35:31] go ahead so I guess I want to see how I

[1:35:34] can appreciate doing things in a way

[1:35:37] that just makes sense for people and

[1:35:39] increases access unless they get it done

[1:35:40] I guess my my question would be

[1:35:43] um why are Harper funding is there any

[1:35:45] other existing funding that

[1:35:48] would uh

[1:35:50] that we could use to do this

[1:35:53] you know we have some that is previously

[1:35:55] bind the dealing mechanism would be

[1:35:58] either

[1:36:00] put in another budget or to

[1:36:03] Bond it going forward

[1:36:05] so the so the money that's there um in

[1:36:09] the capital budget right now so so the money is so the money isn't the

[1:36:13] problem the money is there

[1:36:15] not not talking about the arbor money

[1:36:17] the money is there it's just the process

[1:36:19] is needs to be fixed and therefore

[1:36:23] people can access the money that you're

[1:36:24] saying to fix the process and then add

[1:36:27] um to show that we're in fact serious

[1:36:30] about addressing the problem

[1:36:33] I'm picking up in more uh a larger

[1:36:36] Shield because the previous one we did

[1:36:37] at 30 percent somewhere around Europe

[1:36:39] cities here on the second box of uh you

[1:36:43] get it depending on yes so this would be

[1:36:46] pretty much be upload towards like 50

[1:36:47] percenters right so it just came good

[1:36:50] for the hormones

[1:36:52] any other question of this

[1:36:54] is it's known as a column and definitely

[1:36:58] identifying appropriate dollar amount to

[1:37:01] the various Point helps to increase the

[1:37:03] Streamline this process definitely

[1:37:05] sidewalks are quality of like issue that

[1:37:07] many schenectadians experience

[1:37:09] and I want to make sure that we're being

[1:37:11] intentional as a council where if this

[1:37:13] is funds that we're putting forth to

[1:37:15] assist homeowners with making sure their

[1:37:16] sidewalks are up kept I want to make

[1:37:19] sure these aren't costs that are being

[1:37:20] transferred to renters

[1:37:22] so I don't know if there's any way of

[1:37:24] not suggesting that I just want to make

[1:37:26] sure as a council we're identifying some

[1:37:29] indirect uh

[1:37:32] issues that we could be transferring on

[1:37:35] to internal directed community

[1:37:39] I'm in favor

[1:37:41] making sure everyone knows that we're

[1:37:43] taking into consideration all aspects of

[1:37:45] what this how this can lead to them

[1:37:50] [Music]

[1:37:52] Mr Holton is the way that that can be

[1:37:54] addressed or is that if when you fix

[1:37:56] your sidewalks that's whatever you want

[1:37:57] to do you want to do with the rent it's

[1:37:59] essentially outside of you know how

[1:38:02] we would essentially be interfering with

[1:38:05] you know the ability of a landlord to

[1:38:07] negotiate a contract with a tenant in

[1:38:09] the form of police thank you

[1:38:12] but this again originates

[1:38:15] via a petition process by Property

[1:38:18] Owners on the street

[1:38:21] so people petitioned in one house happen

[1:38:26] to be rental in their sidewalk is

[1:38:28] non-compliant either they would be

[1:38:33] incorporated in it or under today's code

[1:38:36] we can go in and cite them and replace

[1:38:41] the sidewalk and put it on their bill

[1:38:43] their tax bill is a municipal voucher

[1:38:46] which in fact is a more expensive way to

[1:38:50] do it and again is it individual

[1:38:53] property owner fixing the sidewalk in

[1:38:55] front of your property is more expensive

[1:38:58] than when we're doing this as a major

[1:39:02] Municipal project of replacing the whole

[1:39:05] street we're getting better value in

[1:39:08] terms of the quantities we're buying in

[1:39:12] the end result adds more value to the

[1:39:15] properties as a whole so I understand Mr

[1:39:18] Williams concern but I believe that the

[1:39:22] impact of this actually benefits people

[1:39:24] to a higher level than some who

[1:39:27] potentially might be inconvenienced by

[1:39:30] it

[1:39:36] any other questions are coming in

[1:39:39] motion to move forward

[1:39:41] second all in favor

[1:39:44] aye

[1:39:47] the next two item is our provocation for

[1:39:50] stymet spark Improvement and Road Park

[1:39:53] Improvement

[1:39:55] back when we discussed our second

[1:39:58] um sorry

[1:40:00] we second allocation our publication we

[1:40:04] question was raised as to why um money

[1:40:07] was not set aside first time it's far

[1:40:09] and it's probably brought us up and

[1:40:11] drilled Park and was probably myself was

[1:40:13] Porterfield and then we looked at it and

[1:40:15] then we went back to the stakeholders

[1:40:17] them and they provide us a

[1:40:20] to-do lists of things what they need at

[1:40:22] both parts I'm sure each one of you are

[1:40:24] happy and things here so proposing based

[1:40:28] on the estimates that was provided

[1:40:31] we're asking or suggesting um to the

[1:40:34] council my colleagues that we set aside

[1:40:36] five hundred thousand dollars each so

[1:40:38] same as part and Grove Park 500 000 and

[1:40:41] to leave that with the mayor and the

[1:40:43] city staff to look at how they can work

[1:40:45] with these two parks with all the

[1:40:48] additional parks that already have

[1:40:49] received funding and able to take care

[1:40:51] of the basic needs of these two

[1:40:53] operational parts

[1:40:55] so with you here we're asking for that

[1:40:57] amount of money to be set aside from our

[1:40:59] location for these two parts

[1:41:02] misfortable

[1:41:09] so one of them came from Mr palomini

[1:41:12] where he's um there's funding that's

[1:41:15] outlined

[1:41:17] for

[1:41:18] Simon's park for a five thousand four

[1:41:20] hundred four five thousand five hundred

[1:41:22] thousand forty two dollars and so you

[1:41:25] can look through that um and then

[1:41:27] additionally something that came from

[1:41:29] the grass Park Cricket Association who

[1:41:31] is the group that uh it's mostly Cricket

[1:41:34] played in grab Park I believe we all

[1:41:36] know that so they've submitted some

[1:41:38] information to what's actually back in

[1:41:40] October that we're bringing forward now

[1:41:42] as we're talking about these parts

[1:41:45] to see what the things need to be done

[1:41:47] there is no price tag attached to this

[1:41:49] we would need to work with the

[1:41:51] engineering department to see you know

[1:41:54] what the price would be and all of that

[1:41:55] however we wanted to be able to bring

[1:41:57] this forward now because we are making

[1:41:59] uh Investments and improvements in Parks

[1:42:02] throughout the city wanted not to

[1:42:04] overlook any parks especially that

[1:42:07] they've already come to us and master so

[1:42:08] as we've been doing this and we're

[1:42:10] getting to the season where people are

[1:42:11] going to start wanting to use the park

[1:42:12] we wanted to make sure we brought this

[1:42:14] forward and started moving ahead on this

[1:42:16] so that's why you're seeing this today

[1:42:29] to help with some work out there

[1:42:32] so I'm not sure if that is part of this

[1:42:34] also here

[1:42:35] no we can inquire everything

[1:42:37] so listen to set aside money and put

[1:42:40] that there so that the city can start

[1:42:42] moving forward to address some of these

[1:42:44] concerns at these parks

[1:42:51] any other questions regarding setting

[1:42:54] aside five hundred thousand dollars for

[1:42:55] assignment spark 500 000 for Ground Park

[1:43:02] so can we move them together and have

[1:43:04] one resolution

[1:43:06] you can certainly do that but you need

[1:43:09] to do it separately as well yes I think

[1:43:11] we should move separately because if we talked about the money from um sex

[1:43:16] that we may not believe that funding

[1:43:17] unless it will still come back that way

[1:43:19] yeah

[1:43:24] okay so we'll start this part all right

[1:43:28] motion so it moves like our problems and

[1:43:30] second all in favor

[1:43:32] aye and a motion to move real far

[1:43:34] allocation second all in favor

[1:43:38] the next item is allocating additional

[1:43:41] art of funding for the Central Park Pool

[1:43:43] spray pad and facility Mr wall

[1:43:48] thank you

[1:43:52] I need another hand uh good evening so

[1:43:57] what we have here is as you're aware of

[1:43:59] the city council appropriated 4.95

[1:44:02] million dollars for the design and

[1:44:04] construction of a pool in Central Park

[1:44:07] um that project was designed wet bid and

[1:44:11] we received the bids the bids were more

[1:44:14] than the funding which was 4.95 I

[1:44:16] provided you with a cost summary in your

[1:44:19] package so the total cost of the project

[1:44:23] considering all soft costs and money

[1:44:25] spent to date is approximately 10.1

[1:44:28] million dollars which is really unless

[1:44:30] with a short poll of approximately 5.2

[1:44:32] million dollars over the 4.95 that was

[1:44:35] allocated so what we like to do is make

[1:44:37] a request to allocate the additional

[1:44:39] Harper funding so that we can award and

[1:44:43] constructible

[1:44:55] who

[1:44:58] why is it coming up now to additional

[1:45:01] 5.5 million dollars is it added warrant

[1:45:04] scope of work or is it costs over a

[1:45:07] um I would say that it's probably a

[1:45:11] little of each thing as we started with

[1:45:13] the project

[1:45:15] um you know it was a Central Park Pool

[1:45:16] had the location we worked to develop

[1:45:19] the location back when we started as we

[1:45:22] started the developable location we

[1:45:23] started to find the needs of the

[1:45:25] facility so the facility that was there

[1:45:27] previously was a tennis Stadium what a

[1:45:29] lot of people didn't know as a tennis

[1:45:30] Stadium did not have a sanitary line it

[1:45:33] had actually septic tanks in the ground

[1:45:35] so this is a public facility that we're

[1:45:37] looking to use essentially from May 1st

[1:45:40] to October 31st so things like sanitary

[1:45:43] affirmative water line more robust

[1:45:46] Electric System all those things needed

[1:45:48] to come in those were substantial we

[1:45:51] started getting into the code

[1:45:52] requirements for the pool parking we

[1:45:54] were hoping to use Fair Avenue parking

[1:45:56] requirements need to be closer to the

[1:45:58] building for buses and things like that

[1:45:59] to come than it was mechanical we have a

[1:46:03] separate mechanical building we have a

[1:46:05] splash pad because the pool can only be

[1:46:07] from usually July and August and two

[1:46:09] months so we wanted a facility that was

[1:46:12] more readily available for people who

[1:46:14] are maybe there for the tennis or for

[1:46:15] some other events they're like the

[1:46:17] baseball if it is a May season or later

[1:46:20] on because we usually have our splash

[1:46:21] pads open from Labor Day Memorial Day

[1:46:25] past Labor Day and then as you see as we

[1:46:28] got into it and we actually bit it the

[1:46:30] cost that came back were substantially

[1:46:32] higher you know we sat with our

[1:46:34] Consultants on that steel epoxies

[1:46:37] materials a lot of things went up I

[1:46:39] actually have a list of other things

[1:46:41] regarding the utilities the supporting

[1:46:44] facilities the cap we did have some

[1:46:46] issues with our apprenticeship program

[1:46:48] and the specialty contractor mainly the

[1:46:51] pool contractor

[1:46:52] there were really only one pool

[1:46:55] contractor who could meet our cap

[1:46:57] requirement so we had that

[1:46:59] also as we got into it the building is

[1:47:03] built as a municipal building which is a

[1:47:05] higher grade than even a commercial

[1:47:06] building we have van

[1:47:08] the whole building is CMU which is a

[1:47:11] concrete block with a finish on it it

[1:47:13] also has steel trusses not wood trusses

[1:47:16] so it is a stronger Municipal Building

[1:47:19] compared to maybe what a community

[1:47:21] center built for their facilities so all

[1:47:25] these things cumulative

[1:47:27] tick tick tick added off to kind of what

[1:47:29] we have today and you know in

[1:47:32] discussions with the committee it was

[1:47:34] you know we had estimates but the

[1:47:36] estimates were always with large

[1:47:38] asterisks as it could be this it could

[1:47:39] be this so the thought was let's bid it

[1:47:41] let's get a hard number of what this

[1:47:43] would actually be in real dollars we

[1:47:45] actually were concerned at one point

[1:47:47] that no one would bend the pool because

[1:47:49] no one was qualified we actually did a

[1:47:51] lot of back and forth with contractors

[1:47:54] Law Department purchasing at the time

[1:47:56] and we actually were able to find one

[1:47:58] that was applicable to do it and uh and

[1:48:01] that's kind of up to speed where we are

[1:48:03] right now with the project but uh we

[1:48:06] wish it was less but the number we feel

[1:48:09] is in there also not to be forgotten is

[1:48:12] the soft cost of that which are

[1:48:14] construction Administration and

[1:48:15] construction inspection so those

[1:48:17] typically run between 10 and 20 percent

[1:48:19] that's why on your summaries I actually

[1:48:21] provided you with the percent of

[1:48:23] construction because that is like an

[1:48:26] industry standard for all my federally

[1:48:28] projects which we do I'm usually right

[1:48:30] around 15 percent for design and 15 for

[1:48:33] construction so I just wanted to show

[1:48:35] that you know

[1:48:37] Saratoga Associates their design fee was

[1:48:40] essentially five percent and our other

[1:48:42] fees are six and three percent so

[1:48:44] they're all well under kind of what the

[1:48:47] industry standard would be I also would

[1:48:50] bring up the fact that I just am about

[1:48:52] to let the King's Road Bridge Project

[1:48:54] which is a bridge replacement and in

[1:48:57] order to actually let that project I had

[1:48:59] to seek approval and funds from the cdtc

[1:49:01] committee which was an additional two

[1:49:03] million dollars so that was a four

[1:49:05] million dollar project and I needed

[1:49:07] additional two million dollars to be

[1:49:09] able to do that that was approved last

[1:49:11] week so we are moving forward with that

[1:49:12] but that kind of puts you in the realm

[1:49:14] of the market that we're in we were

[1:49:17] fortunate in that case to have that

[1:49:18] resource to go to for the bridge for

[1:49:21] this with the pool we have our own

[1:49:24] resources so with that I'll open it up

[1:49:26] to questions and the marriage here

[1:49:28] according to it

[1:49:32] so you said that they're so you've

[1:49:34] mentioned two things committee and then

[1:49:36] you also said that some of these are

[1:49:37] added things but are not a part of the

[1:49:38] original plan yeah uh the original plan

[1:49:41] it was a the pool with the associated

[1:49:43] pool house but as we went I mean the

[1:49:45] splash pad was probably the one that

[1:49:47] would be the ad because it was discussed

[1:49:49] you know the pool season is so short

[1:49:51] we're making these investments in the

[1:49:53] splash pads and other Parks is now the

[1:49:55] time to have one at Central Park and the

[1:49:57] pool committee decided that now you know

[1:49:58] now is the time to have a splash pattern

[1:50:01] if it's going to be somewhere it's going

[1:50:02] to be there we have the space if you've

[1:50:04] been to the site it's quite large but

[1:50:06] now that it's clear so that was a

[1:50:08] decision by the committee to to do that

[1:50:11] um because that's the biggest you know

[1:50:13] another thing is we move the

[1:50:16] mechanical room out from inside the main

[1:50:19] building to a separate mechanical

[1:50:21] building we thought that would be more

[1:50:23] efficient to have everything you know so

[1:50:25] that we're not integrating public and

[1:50:27] everybody into there another decision

[1:50:29] that was made was that

[1:50:32] the building should be more prominent to

[1:50:36] the tennis courts so as you know the

[1:50:39] tennis Association USTA uses those

[1:50:41] tennis courts a group of 18 Courts for a

[1:50:44] lot of their tournaments they bring

[1:50:45] about 300 people in

[1:50:46] um they rent a fleet of porta potties

[1:50:50] for those events and they've actually

[1:50:52] asked us to build them a facility we

[1:50:54] actually had it designed by the lake

[1:50:56] Freight Gilmore and bid but that

[1:50:59] facility came in at over half a million

[1:51:00] dollars in 2016. and we couldn't justify

[1:51:03] the investment just the bathroom it was

[1:51:05] just a bathroom with a roof so we we

[1:51:08] scrapped it we said that it's too much

[1:51:09] for bathrooms for the tennis court so

[1:51:12] with this opportunity in this location

[1:51:13] what we did was we decided okay well do

[1:51:16] we really want to have this million

[1:51:18] dollar bath house that we use July and

[1:51:20] August so we hold it towards the tennis

[1:51:23] courts so it was you know closer to the

[1:51:26] road which was also ideal for security

[1:51:28] purposes and now what we're doing is

[1:51:31] part of that other allocation of the

[1:51:33] harp up outside defense Central Park

[1:51:35] money we're going to improve the

[1:51:36] intersection there with stop signs

[1:51:38] crosswalks so that if people who are

[1:51:40] playing tennis want to use the

[1:51:41] facilities along with people who are

[1:51:43] running or using the baseball field or

[1:51:45] other things we have that building now

[1:51:48] there and we're looking to use it from

[1:51:50] May to October similar to the other

[1:51:52] buildings and that building will have

[1:51:53] changing rooms bathrooms family

[1:51:56] bathrooms which are not available in the

[1:51:58] other bathrooms and we know that family

[1:52:00] bathrooms are a thing because we're

[1:52:01] trying to move away from gender

[1:52:03] discriminatory bathrooms so this

[1:52:05] building will have three family

[1:52:06] bathrooms available as well as the

[1:52:09] standard male and female rooms so that

[1:52:11] was a change because that actually made

[1:52:13] the building a little bit bigger because

[1:52:15] we wanted to make sure that we could

[1:52:16] accommodate all these uses and use it

[1:52:19] more through the year it has an entryway

[1:52:22] it's it's a very nice building you know

[1:52:24] we talked internally you know did we

[1:52:26] want the building to look like a you

[1:52:28] know it was always going to be made of

[1:52:30] masonry there's always going to be a CMU

[1:52:32] building but this is C you with a steel

[1:52:35] truss it's not a CMU flight roof bunker

[1:52:37] you know it's an attractive building

[1:52:40] um

[1:52:41] so that was those were some of the main

[1:52:43] changes that led to this I don't think

[1:52:45] we were going to get away with the

[1:52:46] parking it was discussed originally to

[1:52:48] really try to use Fair Avenue but even

[1:52:50] if we push the facility all the way to

[1:52:52] the back of the site Fair Avenue is

[1:52:54] still down the slope and across the

[1:52:57] field to get to there it was a little

[1:52:59] far especially if we're thinking about

[1:53:01] there's going to be we're hoping that

[1:53:02] there's going to be swim meets and buses

[1:53:04] and people uh coming and handicap

[1:53:06] accessibility so that's why we decided

[1:53:08] to pull it forward and that made the

[1:53:11] parking lot we met with music Haven on a

[1:53:13] gold she liked the idea of the parking

[1:53:15] lot if you saw the layout of the parking

[1:53:17] lot we also have it set up so that we

[1:53:19] can close if we needed to the road prior

[1:53:23] to music Haven and use the parking lot

[1:53:25] as a turnaround right now if you were to

[1:53:27] go down to music Haven there's a just a

[1:53:31] terrible not a roundabout it's just a

[1:53:32] dead end so people go down there and

[1:53:34] they just stop so this parking lot was

[1:53:37] thought that okay if you put a fence

[1:53:39] here and we put it here you can actually

[1:53:40] turn around and we wouldn't have to have

[1:53:42] people go down towards the Pavilion in

[1:53:44] that area to kind of stop the congestion

[1:53:47] so these are you know a lot of different

[1:53:50] discussions that were had with the

[1:53:52] committee we had a great committee we

[1:53:53] had members from music Haven and we had

[1:53:57] you know a diamond and we had uh Pam

[1:53:59] Perlman with the greenhouse and the Rose

[1:54:01] Garden also so it was that it was a good

[1:54:03] committee but you know as the the

[1:54:06] desires and the talks and how this is

[1:54:08] going to integrate into the park we did see the costs encryption

[1:54:18] [Applause]

[1:54:22] so I appreciate the

[1:54:25] um background so definitely I can

[1:54:27] understand that the changes were

[1:54:29] warranted in scope I think for me

[1:54:31] personally it changes my understanding

[1:54:33] of how this was going to be a phased in

[1:54:35] approach I thought this is something

[1:54:37] that we were going to gradually step

[1:54:38] into and I apologize for my

[1:54:41] misunderstanding that that was such but

[1:54:44] I thought this was going to be a good

[1:54:46] year so in my understanding of

[1:54:49] advocating or communicating this to the

[1:54:52] entire community that we are now

[1:54:53] investing

[1:54:56] hundred percent more dollars into this

[1:54:58] one area of the city and understandably

[1:55:01] this is

[1:55:02] the conjula of Schenectady and we all

[1:55:04] agree on that are there any other

[1:55:06] funding methods to support this and the

[1:55:09] only reason I want to ask is if this

[1:55:11] truly is the opportunity moment to put

[1:55:14] forward all these dreams because we now

[1:55:16] have this money available are we

[1:55:18] evaluating alternatives

[1:55:20] before just saying yes because the money

[1:55:22] is available now

[1:55:25] it always look to use arpa money for

[1:55:28] this project and again we are under

[1:55:30] pressure to close the existing swimming

[1:55:34] facility because it just does not need

[1:55:37] current code issues we were able to keep

[1:55:42] it open in 22 working with the county

[1:55:46] and

[1:55:47] more attendant monitoring this timeline

[1:55:51] will probably not get it open as early

[1:55:54] as I would like even though until we

[1:55:56] award the contract sit down with the

[1:55:58] contractors who won't have a definite

[1:56:01] timeline but the option becomes we're

[1:56:04] going to have to close that other

[1:56:06] sewing facility in want to get this open

[1:56:10] as quick as we can get it built and have

[1:56:14] it as a facility that reflects

[1:56:17] the quality that we're putting in a

[1:56:20] diamond to music Haven and golf course

[1:56:23] the Rose Garden

[1:56:24] this will fit in there and it is part of

[1:56:28] The Branding of Schenectady

[1:56:35] the previous issue with the garbage

[1:56:38] schedules I think it'd be important to

[1:56:40] kind of take a take a pause and make

[1:56:42] sure we make make sure we're considering

[1:56:44] all of their aspects of how we can

[1:56:47] financially fund this project but also

[1:56:49] it's giving us an opportunity to remind

[1:56:51] the scantalians that we are putting

[1:56:53] splash pads in other areas of the

[1:56:54] community so although this would not be

[1:56:57] a resource available at Central Park

[1:56:58] there are other entertainment areas

[1:57:03] for them to be able to

[1:57:05] have recreational water water fun

[1:57:13] a question of

[1:57:14] I don't know where are any updates on

[1:57:18] the federal infrastructure funding

[1:57:20] that we were supposed to receive

[1:57:25] those are on an application basis either

[1:57:27] competitive or

[1:57:30] going through the state we have not

[1:57:32] received any additional funding at this

[1:57:35] point

[1:57:36] thanks

[1:57:37] so we we submitted an application but

[1:57:40] nothing yet no some are based on

[1:57:43] application so you have to apply for a

[1:57:45] water funding you have to apply for

[1:57:47] Broadband you have to apply for

[1:57:49] different areas so we have is there

[1:57:52] something open where we could apply for

[1:57:54] a water and have we

[1:57:55] for water well you said water funds so

[1:57:58] if you reduce water and sewer primarily

[1:58:01] it would not

[1:58:02] well at this point for a swimming pool

[1:58:08] okay even if we have to put more um you

[1:58:10] said we haven't divert what we have to

[1:58:12] put in pipes now there are some things

[1:58:14] some utilities we have to put in yes but

[1:58:16] that wouldn't come under that that's

[1:58:18] what you say

[1:58:20] those components have not been looked at

[1:58:22] for other funding yeah I think if we

[1:58:25] I don't think it would be the right

[1:58:27] application of that grant for this

[1:58:29] particular project that is more for I

[1:58:32] would say large distribution or a

[1:58:34] Mainline these are essentially larger

[1:58:37] style laterals like you would have in a

[1:58:39] house they're not you know water mains

[1:58:41] so if we were going to go through the

[1:58:43] effort of filling out an application for

[1:58:45] that you know like for instance I know

[1:58:47] that they try to do one for the water

[1:58:48] wells you know that's almost a

[1:58:50] multi-million dollar project so that's

[1:58:51] worthy of that kind of an effort because

[1:58:53] it is competitive funding this kind of

[1:58:56] thing would be I don't think is

[1:58:58] competitive if you're doing it in a in a

[1:59:00] solicitation like that

[1:59:03] my further question is there's been talk

[1:59:05] and there was an application that was

[1:59:07] submitted for doing something at the

[1:59:08] casino which is in the park but this

[1:59:11] none of this includes trying to do

[1:59:12] anything

[1:59:14] to that for that building now

[1:59:16] correct it does not and we're going to

[1:59:19] meet with the group uh

[1:59:23] I think Mr Kerry's talking about coming

[1:59:25] in next week

[1:59:27] where they've modified their proposal

[1:59:29] and concept and I'm not aware of what

[1:59:32] details they have

[1:59:34] look forward to meeting with them

[1:59:37] I know there was another

[1:59:39] uh there were some other community

[1:59:42] interest in that uh building

[1:59:45] um

[1:59:46] that there's a possibility of maybe a

[1:59:48] collaborative effort so I just want to

[1:59:49] make sure that we make sure that we

[1:59:51] extend that invitation or you know

[1:59:54] and I think they're open to that yeah

[1:59:57] to put

[2:00:00] more utilization in there gives

[2:00:02] everybody benefits off you know each

[2:00:05] other's involvement in time here

[2:00:09] we've we've investigated that facility

[2:00:12] years ago it will need significant

[2:00:15] improvements so if we decide to do those

[2:00:18] improvements for one of the association

[2:00:19] you'll most likely see me in the next

[2:00:22] Capital requests here with that in a

[2:00:25] facility request because it will be

[2:00:27] significant but it's worthy it will

[2:00:29] restore and put it what it will be

[2:00:32] significant

[2:00:44] 5.5 million already for this pool ad

[2:00:48] project

[2:00:50] I I have two Capital codes set up that

[2:00:53] I've been using for 4.95 million so if

[2:00:57] there is an additional one I'm

[2:00:58] I I missed it we haven't needed it we

[2:01:00] have the money but I can I can look I

[2:01:02] don't believe we have that so you're

[2:01:04] thinking there's another 500 yes

[2:01:09] correct

[2:01:11] about 500 000 yeah is it 5.5 million set

[2:01:15] aside for an additional we originally

[2:01:17] 4.5 of them has about a million dollars

[2:01:22] it was 450 000 4.9 right

[2:01:26] I I may be wrong I had my codes as 404.5

[2:01:31] million remaining out of 4.95 because

[2:01:35] 495 was for the design so or 450 for the

[2:01:39] design but I could have it if it's there

[2:01:40] it's fine there's two codes that are set

[2:01:42] up for the project you might want to

[2:01:45] look into that because I think um we did

[2:01:46] pass in one of the allocations an

[2:01:49] additional an additional one million on

[2:01:51] demands request to set aside now there

[2:01:54] was an additional one million

[2:01:58] dollars pass for arpa for what we what

[2:02:02] we staff Call outside the fence

[2:02:05] so this project is what we're calling

[2:02:07] the inside defense project which is the

[2:02:09] pool facilities the outside defense

[2:02:12] project is for the intersection the

[2:02:15] parking areas you're going to develop a

[2:02:17] path between Fair Avenue and music Haven

[2:02:19] with white it's for the improvements to

[2:02:22] bring people to the park safer so you

[2:02:26] are correct that we did pass that but

[2:02:28] that is while it's related to the pool

[2:02:31] it's also more for the general

[2:02:33] improvements of the Park yeah because it

[2:02:35] I'm looking at my document always has a

[2:02:37] Central Park Pool General site one

[2:02:39] million dollars on top of the 4.5

[2:02:42] million correct that one getting it

[2:02:45] though is you are correct but the

[2:02:47] intention of that was for for so with

[2:02:50] that money we were going to do the

[2:02:51] intersection over like I'd explained

[2:02:54] earlier we were going to clean up the

[2:02:56] parking area in front of the tennis lots

[2:02:58] and we were going to officially make

[2:03:00] that path uh that right now is kind of

[2:03:02] more of a dirt road that goes behind a

[2:03:04] dime and that people walk on when they

[2:03:06] go to music Haven with with lights and

[2:03:08] things like that

[2:03:10] um so that was what that one million is

[2:03:12] and that's what we would that's why we

[2:03:13] call it General site improvements

[2:03:15] because it's for the park as a general

[2:03:17] area so bear in mind we have they are

[2:03:19] also allocated funding for the tennis

[2:03:21] court yes or the tennis facility yep can

[2:03:24] you just mention about doing some work

[2:03:25] with this million dollar there

[2:03:28] tennis court so no

[2:03:30] um so the tennis court half a million

[2:03:32] dollars was for the repair and

[2:03:34] restoration of the courts themselves the

[2:03:37] courts themselves have bird baths and

[2:03:39] cracks and things like that which occur

[2:03:41] over the time

[2:03:42] um last time we did work on those courts

[2:03:44] was 2016 and enabled in order to keep

[2:03:48] them in the USDA condition we have to do

[2:03:50] that and that was the estimate that we

[2:03:53] have to to do that we had a meeting with

[2:03:55] them but yeah so I could I mean I could

[2:03:58] put together a summary of what all this

[2:04:00] is for but that 500 was for inside the

[2:04:04] fence of the tennis courts yeah then the

[2:04:05] million was for outside of everything to

[2:04:07] kind of make the connectivity

[2:04:09] yeah if you can just look into the

[2:04:10] millionaire like look at the narrative

[2:04:12] here it's saying Central Park Pool in

[2:04:13] general side yep that's why we look at

[2:04:16] it and we pass it based on adding

[2:04:18] additional funding towards a pool

[2:04:20] because

[2:04:21] I have a slide of what I use to talk

[2:04:24] about a little bit and what that was for

[2:04:26] but it's more of a connectivity uh

[2:04:28] surrounding the park it was uh pool and

[2:04:31] this is the pool itself

[2:04:35] good please so these profits you're

[2:04:39] giveness I often with projects like this

[2:04:40] there's change orders this is not even

[2:04:42] taken to consideration because we won't

[2:04:44] know it yet if any change orders come

[2:04:46] about so that is if you look into the

[2:04:48] middle of the sheet uh contingency for

[2:04:51] change orders eight percent so that's

[2:04:53] okay so that is in in there I'm not

[2:04:56] saying that we're going to spend all of

[2:04:58] that but the idea with that is that I

[2:05:01] have something to spend if we have

[2:05:03] change we're going to have change with

[2:05:05] this it's just the you know the amount

[2:05:06] so given the fact that we have already

[2:05:09] done a lot of due diligence we've taken

[2:05:11] down the trees we've done site we have

[2:05:13] all borings and we know that the soils

[2:05:15] in the area are good we don't think

[2:05:17] we're going to uncover any Boulders or

[2:05:19] oil tanks or anything like that usually

[2:05:22] contingencies 10 to 12 percent so we

[2:05:24] felt safe enough to bring it down to

[2:05:26] eight percent and that is in here so

[2:05:29] that I don't have to come back and ask

[2:05:31] for additional applications because you

[2:05:33] know the difference between money like

[2:05:34] this and saving money is the payment

[2:05:37] money I kind of have we get from the

[2:05:38] state in federal money I it's kind of

[2:05:40] like my this is different this is hard

[2:05:43] because there's not money set aside in

[2:05:45] the budget for pools so that you know

[2:05:48] anything pulls in Parts have always been

[2:05:49] hard for us in the capital because you

[2:05:51] have to set aside that money

[2:05:52] specifically

[2:05:54] muscle only just for us so you know for

[2:05:57] us to keep up our record can you list

[2:05:59] all that added facilities or anything

[2:06:02] that comprise that follows on the

[2:06:04] facilities where you say Central Park

[2:06:05] pools spray bad and Facilities

[2:06:08] yeah the facilities were and if you

[2:06:11] cannot today but you can listen and send

[2:06:13] it to the college okay another idea of

[2:06:14] what your what do you mean by facilities

[2:06:18] it's what we're calling the bath house

[2:06:19] yeah and then Palm Hospital

[2:06:31] any other questions

[2:06:36] this icon is just a discussion

[2:06:39] purpose no I'm asking you for

[2:06:41] authorization for funding

[2:06:43] I think it's in on the city that I'm not

[2:06:46] planning here

[2:06:49] you have it here as icam number two

[2:06:52] item number two so yeah

[2:06:56] so these already have gone out today

[2:06:58] you're asking them for the money but the

[2:07:00] bid's already been done right the

[2:07:02] just came in

[2:07:03] yeah just to be clear this particular

[2:07:06] piece of legislation the recommendation

[2:07:08] is to authorize the finance commissioner

[2:07:10] to allocate an additional 5.2 million in

[2:07:13] arpa funds for the Central Park full

[2:07:15] spray pattern facility project so it was

[2:07:17] not a discussion item

[2:07:19] no no if you look on this city

[2:07:21] development planning there's an item

[2:07:24] there it's an experience

[2:07:26] item number one and two is for them yeah

[2:07:29] discussions for Revere Avenue

[2:07:34] so one or two are to award-bidden

[2:07:37] contract

[2:07:39] right

[2:07:41] correct

[2:07:43] okay

[2:07:45] any other discussion

[2:07:48] I've you know I'd like to see I mean

[2:07:50] you've explained a lot today and I would

[2:07:52] like to say like this is more than we

[2:07:55] had initially when it came before the

[2:07:57] council I'd like to see it as a con as a

[2:07:59] comprehensive package and then we do

[2:08:01] have three council members in this thing

[2:08:02] tonight

[2:08:03] um who didn't get to hear all this

[2:08:05] discussion so

[2:08:07] um that's where I am with it right now I

[2:08:09] just like to see is there something that

[2:08:11] we don't have to

[2:08:12] um that we don't have to do these bids

[2:08:15] are good for 45 days and

[2:08:21] yeah what's the timing on that yeah so

[2:08:24] we got caught in a little bit of a

[2:08:26] catch-22 that I wasn't really prepared

[2:08:28] for but

[2:08:29] um we had the bids out on December 2nd

[2:08:32] um we had some questions so we pushed

[2:08:34] out the return date to Thursday January

[2:08:37] 12th so that we could give everybody

[2:08:39] time because there were a lot of

[2:08:40] questions like I said with the cap and

[2:08:42] with some of the things with regard to

[2:08:44] the pool uh January 2nd was legislative

[2:08:46] conference so we didn't have time to

[2:08:49] review the bids and get them in the

[2:08:51] legislative conference on top of that as

[2:08:53] you'll see in your uh

[2:08:55] what is your agenda today we did not get

[2:08:58] a mechanical of it so then we also

[2:09:01] wanted to have that together we only got

[2:09:03] three of the four so then we held off

[2:09:06] until the next but there was a dark

[2:09:07] Monday on January 30th that pushed us

[2:09:10] out the extra actually you know two

[2:09:13] weeks almost so now uh 45 days this is

[2:09:17] the best cycle to do it if we wait for

[2:09:19] the 45 days it's Jan February 26th is

[2:09:23] when that 45 days is over but the next

[2:09:25] council meeting is February 27th and

[2:09:27] then we would still have to get the

[2:09:29] signatures on the agreements so that's

[2:09:31] why we thought to bring them both to you

[2:09:33] today was to try to stay within the 45

[2:09:35] minutes

[2:09:40] timelines here

[2:09:42] and they ask on the table is to get more

[2:09:45] details get a list of all these things

[2:09:47] here I'm sure

[2:09:48] Madam President we can schedule a

[2:09:51] special meeting a finance meeting and a

[2:09:54] special city council meeting to

[2:09:55] accommodate that you meet your timeline

[2:09:58] to get this done before the 26th so it

[2:10:01] will be proven that you give us that

[2:10:03] information okay and we have the council

[2:10:05] member the next meeting and we can

[2:10:07] discuss it in more detail and have a

[2:10:09] look at all the added facilities and the

[2:10:13] scope of work

[2:10:14] and we can move forward I don't think it

[2:10:16] would be a issue having special meetings

[2:10:18] to accommodate this

[2:10:20] absolutely

[2:10:21] I'm not available

[2:10:41] um I would like all of the council

[2:10:43] members to to at least hear the

[2:10:44] conversations today and we have three

[2:10:46] people that are missing I I knew that

[2:10:48] two I didn't know the third

[2:10:50] um so I would really if we could just

[2:10:52] move along and we'll have a special

[2:10:54] meeting and with finance and counseling

[2:10:56] to make sure that everyone is clear and

[2:10:58] again this what we understood when this

[2:11:01] initially was brought to us has grown

[2:11:05] tremendously so um that for me is a

[2:11:09] concern that we heard about it after the

[2:11:12] growth of it as opposed to on the front

[2:11:14] end of it

[2:11:15] so just want to take a little bit more

[2:11:17] time to absorb all of that

[2:11:22] yeah so is that oh yeah we'll get to it

[2:11:25] the same with items one and two City

[2:11:27] development planning all three rules at

[2:11:29] the same time so we wouldn't be able

[2:11:31] until we make sure we have the funding

[2:11:33] all the funding in place we can't award

[2:11:34] bids of contracts but we would hope to

[2:11:37] do all of them special meeting yes

[2:11:40] that's correct yes so he will be

[2:11:43] discussing our allocation and then

[2:11:46] contract

[2:11:48] for these um

[2:11:54] and he had a question regarding this

[2:11:56] item

[2:11:57] [Music]

[2:12:00] all right

[2:12:05] um

[2:12:07] make sure we work with the clerk we will

[2:12:10] call for the special meetings and make

[2:12:11] sure the council members get it and get

[2:12:14] the information once you receive the

[2:12:16] official documentation we'll schedule

[2:12:17] and call the yes yes I'll send all the

[2:12:20] information to Sam tomorrow

[2:12:23] okay okay

[2:12:24] all right thank you for your time

[2:12:29] and obviously Ron Gardens office on our

[2:12:33] ewbe

[2:12:36] um

[2:12:37] goes on this project as well

[2:12:41] yeah

[2:12:42] [Music]

[2:12:43] he said yes yes

[2:12:46] all right the next item updates on our

[2:12:49] phones powerful allocations the best

[2:12:52] Quarterfield

[2:12:53] yes um

[2:12:55] so you know we've allocated a lot of

[2:12:58] money so at this point in time I'd like

[2:13:00] to know where we are with that

[2:13:02] um where our contracts are within I did

[2:13:04] send an email out and so let me just

[2:13:06] also say that Mr Ferrari did provide for

[2:13:08] us the remaining funds uh about 8

[2:13:12] million in our for funds so this point

[2:13:14] in time for those the money that we have

[2:13:16] allocated the council is allocated I'd

[2:13:18] like to know where we are with the

[2:13:19] contracts what's been sent out so

[2:13:22] looking for the update from

[2:13:24] um thank you from development and uh

[2:13:28] also I sent the email to Mr Golden so

[2:13:31] I'm not sure how we're going to who's

[2:13:33] going to take one role

[2:13:35] yet

[2:13:39] um yeah so just to give a brief update

[2:13:41] without going into every single

[2:13:43] um awardee of the arpa funding um we we

[2:13:46] did execute the contract fully with YWCA

[2:13:49] which is great because that was a

[2:13:50] critical needs project for some of their

[2:13:53] critical repairs of the facility we have

[2:13:56] the same thing has their contract

[2:13:58] they're reviewing it and that should be

[2:13:59] executed I would say very shortly

[2:14:03] um we will be coming back next cycle

[2:14:05] with the food Council

[2:14:09] allocation I think we need to get

[2:14:11] approval from the council to go to

[2:14:12] contract so we we um we will be bringing

[2:14:17] that back on the next cycle for approval

[2:14:20] based on discussions with the foundation

[2:14:21] and sitcom and the other partners to

[2:14:23] come up with a final budget

[2:14:26] um I believe in addition to that we are

[2:14:29] just still waiting on the pre-contract

[2:14:31] requirements from various organizations

[2:14:33] before we can actually enter into

[2:14:37] contracts for those projects and we

[2:14:41] still have some awards who who really

[2:14:44] haven't responded to the request for

[2:14:47] that information so far so I think you

[2:14:50] know

[2:14:51] after some time we should start to I

[2:14:54] mean I know we have the year timeline

[2:14:55] placed on a lot of the projects but I do

[2:14:57] really think we should probably come up

[2:14:59] with a you know a timeline of when we

[2:15:03] can receive these pre-contract

[2:15:05] requirements and you know what to do

[2:15:07] beyond that

[2:15:09] um do you have any other I mean I got

[2:15:11] those

[2:15:12] unless you guys are good questions yeah

[2:15:13] so yeah I only heard you mentioned like

[2:15:16] two people so far yeah

[2:15:18] we gave a lot of requirements for people

[2:15:21] for the pre-contract stuff I'm thinking

[2:15:24] it'll save us a lot of time and effort

[2:15:25] and the tail end after we get these

[2:15:28] contracts executed just making sure

[2:15:29] everybody has you know a good shape

[2:15:33] and they're prepared to move forward and

[2:15:34] effective efficient manner so I think

[2:15:36] people are trying to get their their

[2:15:38] stuff together

[2:15:39] so we definitely need a timeline so

[2:15:42] specifically those who didn't have any

[2:15:44] contingencies

[2:15:46] um

[2:15:47] none of this like nobody has responded

[2:15:49] they have no contingencies and still I

[2:15:50] haven't gotten the information to you

[2:15:51] they're they're getting it together um

[2:15:54] there's some back and forth they don't

[2:15:55] necessarily have all the documents they

[2:15:57] need to have

[2:15:58] um there's polish procedures in place

[2:15:59] that we ask them put in place they're

[2:16:02] working to get together and aspects yeah

[2:16:05] so there's been a lot of communication

[2:16:06] and contact with a lot of the

[2:16:08] organizations but we're just not at a

[2:16:10] point to enter a contract yet

[2:16:12] um and some of it is you know some of

[2:16:13] the projects are also you know we're

[2:16:15] waiting for them to add final budgets

[2:16:17] and things like that so there's just a

[2:16:20] lot of moving Parts with a lot of the

[2:16:21] projects and also getting you know the

[2:16:24] organizations to get together those documents so that's kind of where

[2:16:28] we are but we do have you know the

[2:16:29] contract we've worked with the law

[2:16:30] Department we have the template we're

[2:16:32] working with the organizations we're

[2:16:34] just not really in a position to to

[2:16:36] execute on the ones that we don't have

[2:16:39] all the information for

[2:16:40] oh

[2:16:42] go ahead with this would you stand there

[2:16:44] at this time are there any projects that

[2:16:46] you are more worried about than being

[2:16:49] that deadline

[2:16:51] and if so I think that would be

[2:16:53] appropriate to provide the listing or

[2:16:55] update to the council as

[2:16:57] well we can we can look more more into

[2:16:59] that game

[2:17:00] yeah and like I mean I would say the

[2:17:03] ones who just haven't responded I mean

[2:17:05] we can actively reach out but you know

[2:17:08] there's a limited time that they're

[2:17:10] going to spend doing that you know

[2:17:13] um you know we want to be proactive

[2:17:15] about executing these projects we also

[2:17:17] can't you know just continuously reach

[2:17:20] out if we're not really getting a

[2:17:21] response so yeah at a certain point

[2:17:23] we're going to have to evaluate that and

[2:17:25] then

[2:17:26] I imagine like bootcampus but so much

[2:17:28] hand-holding but based on my scope and

[2:17:31] uh

[2:17:33] viewing comparatively with what you have

[2:17:35] been receiving from other projects I

[2:17:36] would just like to know what monies

[2:17:38] could potentially be returning to the

[2:17:40] council that we need to then focus on

[2:17:41] how do we reallocate that in the worst

[2:17:43] case scenariants I think this point in

[2:17:45] time it's gonna you know we don't have

[2:17:47] that number yet

[2:17:48] um most the big ticket items that you

[2:17:51] had large allocated dollars to

[2:17:53] um had a significant number of

[2:17:55] contingencies cash them any other money

[2:17:56] they need to raise so once we get a

[2:17:59] better idea of where they're going to

[2:18:00] stand with those projects

[2:18:02] give you a better idea of how much money

[2:18:04] you'll get back you know most most of

[2:18:07] there's some that are fairly

[2:18:08] significantly small

[2:18:10] um you know ten fifty thousand dollars

[2:18:11] which is a small amount of money I was

[2:18:13] gonna say but for this for 52 million

[2:18:16] dollars it's not it's not a significant

[2:18:19] amount but so we'll we'll have a better

[2:18:20] idea probably in a few months of what

[2:18:23] money is probably could be reallocated

[2:18:25] yeah we definitely need to know that and

[2:18:28] uh so I would like to post it to the

[2:18:30] council that we discussed getting a um

[2:18:32] because it sounds like you're kind of

[2:18:34] extreme amount of work to do and it's

[2:18:36] beyond what you normally do that we um

[2:18:38] talking about using some of the arpa

[2:18:40] funds to actually hire Consultants who

[2:18:42] keep track of this money

[2:18:44] um it's a lot for our you know it's

[2:18:46] additional it's an additional um job to

[2:18:49] do beyond what staff is already doing

[2:18:51] and so I would like to propose that we

[2:18:54] look at how to consultant to keep track

[2:18:55] of keep track of the projects keep track

[2:18:57] of the money and just you know um

[2:19:01] we're looking at that internally to

[2:19:03] match it up to be able to do the

[2:19:06] allocation and then do the monitoring

[2:19:09] so you're not you're you're saying

[2:19:11] you're not interested in doing an

[2:19:12] outside consultant to bring in I didn't

[2:19:15] say that they said we're doing it we're

[2:19:17] looking at one

[2:19:18] house or

[2:19:20] actually have somebody else as a

[2:19:23] consultant

[2:19:24] [Music]

[2:19:26] so as far as the timeline goes um

[2:19:30] obviously we'll be looking at are you

[2:19:33] know depending on again project scope

[2:19:35] amount you know the contingencies that

[2:19:37] are put in place

[2:19:39] um we should probably have like a

[2:19:42] timeline thing this is the deadline but

[2:19:44] that deadline then would have to take

[2:19:46] into all those considerations so I just

[2:19:48] wouldn't you know want to have an

[2:19:51] expectation for

[2:19:52] um a project with no contingencies or

[2:19:56] maybe some small contingencies put them

[2:19:58] at the same timeline as a project with

[2:20:00] lots of contingencies because that was

[2:20:02] just you know be setting them up for

[2:20:04] failure so I'm just concerned about that

[2:20:05] kind of

[2:20:07] maybe you guys put the ones with

[2:20:09] contingencies you did actually put a

[2:20:11] timeline in place fourth and

[2:20:13] um so okay I was talking about

[2:20:16] um people that are like we're not

[2:20:18] hearing back from or saying or like

[2:20:20] there's some there's some figuring out

[2:20:22] why you know yeah some documentation

[2:20:24] that needs to uh that needs to be

[2:20:26] produced

[2:20:27] um yeah so I was just thinking around

[2:20:29] those you know if we put together so we

[2:20:31] have that that overarching timeline

[2:20:33] where we talked about adding in an

[2:20:35] additional timeline for paperwork

[2:20:37] compliance is that what we're saying

[2:20:38] it's about you know right related like

[2:20:40] an intern deadline to get that stuff in

[2:20:43] so that will make sure

[2:20:45] that's right and if that was going to

[2:20:47] happen those are just the considerations

[2:20:49] that we've obviously implemented but I

[2:20:51] think is worth enough

[2:20:54] so um so thank you for that we were very

[2:20:58] intentional about how we were spending

[2:20:59] money make sure that certain

[2:21:00] organizations got money however we are

[2:21:02] also held to a timeline so if we can't

[2:21:05] if we everything can be gotten in the in

[2:21:08] within our time frame then we have to

[2:21:10] make sure that we're understanding that

[2:21:11] we would have to recapture some of those

[2:21:13] funds so it's important that's why I

[2:21:15] think it's important that we have

[2:21:16] someone who's extremely dedicated to

[2:21:18] making sure that that work is done so

[2:21:21] um that we've you know allocate the

[2:21:22] money and we're not giving any of it

[2:21:24] back

[2:21:25] um so what I'm going to ask for you is

[2:21:27] like probably every couple of weeks now

[2:21:29] at this point in time every Community

[2:21:31] needs to just see where we are I think

[2:21:33] we really have to stay on top of this

[2:21:34] and um

[2:21:38] if you could if it's just those couple

[2:21:40] months if you would just be specific

[2:21:41] with the ones just send an email and

[2:21:43] I'll make sure sure yeah I didn't know

[2:21:45] if we wanted to go through like every project but yeah we can we can

[2:21:49] send that information so that

[2:21:50] everybody's aware and if someone reaches

[2:21:52] out that

[2:21:53] it hasn't gotten in touch or something

[2:21:55] we can we can you know

[2:21:57] be able to to talk to them yes because

[2:22:00] people are asking we do receive phone

[2:22:02] calls so just like but so where things

[2:22:04] are that would be great yeah

[2:22:11] so we'll have this back

[2:22:13] uh two weeks okay any other icon before

[2:22:16] Finance

[2:22:17] I have a motion to a driver second all

[2:22:20] the paper uh thank you call to order

[2:22:23] City development and planning and based

[2:22:25] on our prior discussion

[2:22:27] um items number one and two will be

[2:22:29] considered when we have a special

[2:22:31] meeting

[2:22:33] that will be called regarding the

[2:22:35] allocation of funds

[2:22:38] item number three discussion of uh

[2:22:41] Revere Avenue paper Street development

[2:22:43] feasibility studies

[2:22:49] thank you uh so if you recall several

[2:22:53] months ago I came before you with a

[2:22:56] proposal from CT mail to discuss the

[2:23:00] scoping an investigation if the Revere

[2:23:03] Avenue could be developed from paper

[2:23:05] Street into an actual road we reviewed

[2:23:08] the document together and the question

[2:23:11] was brought forth about how future costs

[2:23:14] would be handled and what the I guess

[2:23:19] what the owner the owner of the

[2:23:21] property's commitment would be as we go

[2:23:23] forward with the investigation I believe

[2:23:25] it is the property owners desire that

[2:23:27] the city front this cost for CT mail to

[2:23:32] do the investigation and then at that

[2:23:34] point on to go forward they would be an

[2:23:37] active partner in the development of the

[2:23:39] area the owner of the property has

[2:23:42] written a letter that is in here and the

[2:23:44] owner is here today to discuss the

[2:23:47] development and moving forward with the

[2:23:49] project it so it would be great if we

[2:23:52] could have a conversation today about

[2:23:54] how we want to move forward with this

[2:23:58] and I would welcome would you want to

[2:23:59] come up with Frank and uh if there's any

[2:24:01] questions we can discuss together

[2:24:09] you do have

[2:24:12] my uh proposal uh Chris had asked me to

[2:24:17] submit something to you so that you can

[2:24:19] see you know what our involvement it

[2:24:21] would be just so you understand I'm not

[2:24:23] the owner my wife is

[2:24:27] um

[2:24:27] she allows me to you know to make

[2:24:30] condemnments for her anyways what we would like to do here is we we

[2:24:36] have tried to develop this ourselves and

[2:24:38] we found that we you know there were

[2:24:40] environmental issues that needed to be

[2:24:41] addressed and in doing so we weren't

[2:24:45] proposing necessarily to put the road

[2:24:47] through so what I'm asking for is a

[2:24:50] feasibility study to see if the road can

[2:24:52] go in and at that point then we will

[2:24:55] determine you know how we're going to

[2:24:57] perceive this because the development

[2:24:59] team still is interested in the property

[2:25:01] [Music]

[2:25:06] so you're asking us to pay the six six

[2:25:09] thousand seven hundred and fifty dollars

[2:25:11] to for this visibility yeah

[2:25:15] and these properties have all paid taxes

[2:25:18] oh yes

[2:25:21] many other properties have been owned by

[2:25:23] the family for almost 50 years now and

[2:25:26] uh

[2:25:27] my wife's inherited you know this he's

[2:25:30] the 17 icon 17 Labs you guys have it

[2:25:34] split up on third view that's because

[2:25:36] some of them have been combined

[2:25:38] but anyways

[2:25:39] um over the course of that time over the

[2:25:42] course of the last 30 years I've been

[2:25:43] looking at several different projects

[2:25:45] you know what we can do with this what

[2:25:47] we can't do

[2:25:48] and with the zoning change you know to

[2:25:51] the uh what was it R3

[2:25:55] we were allowed you know to do the

[2:25:58] multiple dwelling which is this is

[2:26:00] surrounded by apartments from R1 correct

[2:26:03] from a single single-family photographer

[2:26:05] if you know the area the area is

[2:26:07] multi-family homes

[2:26:09] actually at the time when the zoning was

[2:26:13] done I'm surprised that it wasn't

[2:26:14] changed then you know just because

[2:26:16] everything around it was an organ

[2:26:20] so uh at any rate we found you know we

[2:26:25] did find some developers that were very

[2:26:27] interested in the property and that's

[2:26:29] when we ran into some of the

[2:26:31] environmental issues

[2:26:32] and I feel pretty strongly that I think

[2:26:35] that the city has a better chance of

[2:26:38] getting those approved than we would as

[2:26:40] private investor private Developers

[2:26:49] [Music]

[2:26:52] oil spills or anything like that you

[2:26:55] know these property uh it has What was

[2:26:58] seen as some unclassified Wetland areas

[2:27:01] you know what we want to do is we're

[2:27:03] talking about a very small area within

[2:27:05] the right-of-way on adjacent to his so

[2:27:08] what we want to do is to figure out the

[2:27:10] feasibility see team mail the reason

[2:27:12] that we are looking to work with TT mail

[2:27:14] the CT mail is the city's ms4 and storm

[2:27:17] water consultant they're very uh versed

[2:27:20] in both the city and regionally how to

[2:27:22] work with local Army Corps of Engineers

[2:27:24] and the DDC

[2:27:27] um because even though on any map that

[2:27:29] exists because we've done the research

[2:27:30] these are not uh classified they do not

[2:27:33] exist on paper they still exist

[2:27:35] physically as a wet area in the city and

[2:27:38] we do our due diligence to see if this

[2:27:40] can be developed if it cannot be

[2:27:42] developed that's going to take us down a

[2:27:44] different road because if we come into

[2:27:45] the terms of this area cannot be

[2:27:47] developed then these Parcels are

[2:27:50] essentially

[2:27:52] right well one one thing to keep in mind

[2:27:55] is these parts that were part of a

[2:27:57] subdivision of the city probably I would

[2:27:59] say 70 or 80 years ago these properties

[2:28:02] were set up paper streets

[2:28:05] Lots were established Lots were sold

[2:28:08] resold sold over again sold at tax sales

[2:28:11] and so on on Down the Line

[2:28:13] and that's how it was developed

[2:28:16] now Wetlands act didn't come in a big

[2:28:19] play until 1971 and they never really

[2:28:21] came around with any real program on

[2:28:24] that until the late 80s early 90s

[2:28:27] so I mean you know actually if we had

[2:28:29] done something with it in the 70s you

[2:28:31] know maybe this wouldn't even be there

[2:28:33] but I think that's where we had where

[2:28:36] the city has an opportunity to work with

[2:28:39] you know other agencies the federal

[2:28:41] agencies and the state agencies to keep

[2:28:43] this on the tax maps the way you want

[2:28:50] um and it does say including

[2:28:51] reimbursable expenses so

[2:28:54] uh yeah so reimbursable expenses in

[2:28:57] regards to this is technically if they

[2:29:00] print a very large map where they do

[2:29:02] mileage that's a reimbursable expensive

[2:29:05] it's it's usually percentages more than

[2:29:08] that it's we're not you know 35 cents a

[2:29:11] mile they come from our office to here

[2:29:12] so it's not it's not anything we're you

[2:29:14] know we're not paying for a trip to

[2:29:16] Vegas or running of a helicopter it's going to be they're usually well

[2:29:20] climbed and it's not Central Park no

[2:29:39] any questions any other questions from

[2:29:41] Council Members I will say so I would

[2:29:44] pay for this out of a operating code in

[2:29:47] the engineering department that is

[2:29:49] called fees for services I do keep a

[2:29:52] fees line with money for hiring of

[2:29:55] consultants and surveyors and things so

[2:29:57] while this is not 100 budgeted when I

[2:30:00] came to you there is budget to pay for

[2:30:03] this portion of it so this is not

[2:30:04] something that you know is outside the

[2:30:07] realm of anything I don't have to you

[2:30:08] know go digging it up I'll be able to

[2:30:13] all right any questions

[2:30:16] Mr Williams I know um do your recent uh

[2:30:20] updates on the existence of paper

[2:30:22] streets we're saying they're far in

[2:30:23] between right

[2:30:25] sorry as my follow-on question is making

[2:30:27] sure this is seen as an opportunity and

[2:30:29] not necessarily an obligation to do a

[2:30:31] consideration too with

[2:30:33] Chris

[2:30:35] an opportunity not up yeah this is very unique and the uniqueness of it is

[2:30:43] typically our paper streets are actually

[2:30:44] around like Cal Brook Parks diamonds

[2:30:47] Park Woodlawn they're around the park

[2:30:49] area we do still have some but they can

[2:30:51] be developed a little bit simpler this

[2:30:53] particular street is entirety between

[2:30:56] two streets next to two developed pieces

[2:30:58] of land it's very unique because if for

[2:31:01] some reason it could not be developed

[2:31:03] then all the parcels on either side of

[2:31:05] this are landlocked by all of their

[2:31:08] neighbors and hence unusable and then I

[2:31:10] would have to work with the property

[2:31:11] owners and the assessor and possibly

[2:31:14] Andrew to find okay well now you know is

[2:31:17] it really how do we how do we do that

[2:31:19] because the parcels then are you know

[2:31:21] I'm not saying that every empty parcel

[2:31:23] should not be a park you know we don't

[2:31:24] have we don't really have a need to make

[2:31:26] another Park in the area but this is a

[2:31:29] it's a conversation um I can't remember

[2:31:31] how many years ago it was it was

[2:31:32] somewhere around six or seven years ago

[2:31:34] Steve strickman did a very large study

[2:31:36] around a little while and he just

[2:31:38] started consolidating paper streets

[2:31:40] around the Woodlawn preserve because

[2:31:41] Woodlawn preserve was turning and

[2:31:43] working with the Albany Pine Bush This

[2:31:46] is not that I think that given the

[2:31:48] location of this and giving that it

[2:31:51] cannot be incorporated into other

[2:31:53] aspects of parks or public lands I think

[2:31:56] that it would be in the city's best

[2:31:58] interest to work with a property owner

[2:32:00] and just see this to its natural

[2:32:02] conclusion

[2:32:03] and if you know wherever that may be you

[2:32:06] know and work with them and work with a

[2:32:08] property owner because otherwise I I

[2:32:10] don't know what you know what we would

[2:32:11] do with it and it would be better to

[2:32:12] keep this on the tax roll than to have

[2:32:14] some things and have it justice

[2:32:16] you know undevelopable area

[2:32:19] thank you any other questions

[2:32:23] well I will I will just say one thing

[2:32:25] there's one volume up because it came to

[2:32:26] me you guys didn't bring this up but uh

[2:32:29] we built did talk with Metroplex and

[2:32:31] given the location that it is solely uh

[2:32:34] residential they at the moment are

[2:32:37] saying that you know they'd like the

[2:32:39] city to to work on it because they

[2:32:41] prefer downtown mixed-use with a little

[2:32:43] commercial just that that came up I did

[2:32:45] uh when I talked with Mr irva I did go

[2:32:48] and have a meeting with the Metroplex

[2:32:50] Development Authority because I thought

[2:32:52] that this was uh and then the whole city

[2:32:54] is in Metroplex but they had talked with

[2:32:56] him previously or were aware of it and

[2:32:58] they said that they're just not this

[2:33:00] isn't in their wheelhouse as of right

[2:33:02] now so maybe down the line as we get

[2:33:04] things going there'll be something but

[2:33:06] right now they ask that the city takes a

[2:33:08] lead on us there is the potential that

[2:33:11] you know you could have some commercial

[2:33:12] development in there as part of the

[2:33:14] mixed use so I mean that is allowed in

[2:33:17] the zoning so that is a possibility also

[2:33:24] are there any other questions you have

[2:33:25] anything else no I'm sorry I just wanted

[2:33:27] to put that out there I did my due

[2:33:28] diligence

[2:33:30] any questions

[2:33:32] um

[2:33:41] the next item on the agenda is a Seeker

[2:33:44] for building changes for banquet

[2:33:45] facilities Miss DIA

[2:33:53] [Music]

[2:33:55] so we've completed the 30-day secret

[2:34:00] review city council as the lead Agency

[2:34:02] for the zoning coaches for Bank

[2:34:04] facilities been discussed before with

[2:34:06] the public hearing is held and so the

[2:34:09] first action would be

[2:34:11] um like issuing the negative declaration

[2:34:13] for Seeker

[2:34:18] have any questions

[2:34:26] and next item agenda remind you donate

[2:34:28] for change the language facility and

[2:34:30] private clubs for a lot of them it's

[2:34:33] just a reminder yep so reminders um once

[2:34:35] The Seekers passed then you would pass

[2:34:38] the amendment to his own program as

[2:34:40] outlined anybody have any questions

[2:34:42] around that

[2:34:44] Mr Chipotle clarification the city

[2:34:48] council approved the um

[2:34:51] I think what Mr Marty presented earlier

[2:34:53] related to the change to the certificate

[2:34:56] of use process that referred to a

[2:34:58] definition that is part of this code

[2:35:00] change there's nothing that would

[2:35:03] prevent the council to issue the deck

[2:35:05] and also pass the ordinance at the

[2:35:07] meeting on Monday that the council isn't

[2:35:10] going to be doing the the passage to the

[2:35:14] amendment to the zoning ordinance

[2:35:17] at that time I would request that the

[2:35:19] council again wait on the change to the

[2:35:22] certificate of use because it does again

[2:35:25] refer to a section that doesn't yet

[2:35:28] exist in the code as it relates to the

[2:35:30] definition so the set the council can

[2:35:33] take action at this next meeting on

[2:35:35] Monday to do the negative declaration

[2:35:37] for the resolution and then pass the

[2:35:39] ordinance

[2:35:41] look at the Zone chair the zoning change

[2:35:43] oh so you at first I thought you said we

[2:35:45] should you no I'm saying you can what

[2:35:47] I'm saying is it I wouldn't you have to

[2:35:49] I wouldn't move ahead with a certificate

[2:35:50] of use if you're in a change

[2:35:52] if you're not going to move ahead with

[2:35:54] the zoning change for death defining big

[2:35:56] wood facilities private clubs and lodges

[2:35:59] because the certificate of use refers to

[2:36:03] this change so maybe this should be done

[2:36:05] first so that way but what I'm saying is

[2:36:07] I'm sorry what I'm saying is

[2:36:10] um the council can move ahead with

[2:36:14] um both doing the negative declaration

[2:36:16] and passing the ordinance amending the

[2:36:19] zoning code at Monday's meeting and that

[2:36:22] wouldn't necessitate then holding off on

[2:36:24] the certificate of use uh ordinance

[2:36:26] change

[2:36:28] um

[2:36:29] yeah

[2:36:30] but if the council is going to wait on

[2:36:32] the zoning change then it should also

[2:36:34] wait on the certificate of use change

[2:36:37] I don't think we're waiting on the

[2:36:38] zoning change I just wasn't sure because

[2:36:41] it was it was a reminder and the

[2:36:44] implication I want to make sure the

[2:36:45] application wasn't uh to wait no no that

[2:36:49] was just saying the public hearing just

[2:36:50] reminded the public hearing already

[2:36:51] happened

[2:36:52] okay sure all right

[2:36:57] so that was it for the Builder

[2:36:59] facilities yes

[2:37:01] um

[2:37:04] oh yeah so I need a motion to okay so

[2:37:09] second

[2:37:11] all right that's the only changes item

[2:37:13] number five

[2:37:15] item number six you're gonna be here for

[2:37:18] a little while

[2:37:19] um the secret Amendment to the

[2:37:21] overlaying Historic District 308 State

[2:37:23] Street yep

[2:37:25] um

[2:37:26] so this is related to the overlay

[2:37:28] District at three-way State Street once

[2:37:30] again

[2:37:31] um we've completed the 30-day secret

[2:37:33] review with the city council estate

[2:37:35] agency you would pass the negative

[2:37:37] declaration in terms of environmental

[2:37:39] impacts

[2:37:41] any questions

[2:37:45] so second all's in favor all right item

[2:37:49] number seven is the reminder with the

[2:37:51] amendment to the oh

[2:37:53] it's really State Street in the public

[2:37:55] hearing is held on January 9th perfect

[2:37:57] so this is just approving that Amendment

[2:38:00] I'll understand oh are there any

[2:38:02] questions

[2:38:04] so second all those in favor

[2:38:09] item number eight

[2:38:10] purchase option agreement for various

[2:38:13] properties with uh Capital Region land

[2:38:15] bank for the revitalization of Summit

[2:38:18] Avenue this year

[2:38:21] okay so we um we're here tonight we have

[2:38:24] some of our partners here in the room as

[2:38:26] well

[2:38:27] um the city of Schenectady and the land

[2:38:29] bank have partnered on various

[2:38:31] neighborhood Improvement projects that

[2:38:33] resulted in removing over 2 200 flighted

[2:38:36] properties in the creation of over 250

[2:38:39] minutes of new housing in multiple

[2:38:41] neighborhoods

[2:38:42] um there is as you are well aware of the

[2:38:46] situation in Summit Ave where the city

[2:38:48] owns a concentration of many vacant

[2:38:51] inflated properties we've been for a

[2:38:53] long time trying to find the right

[2:38:56] opportunity that was a comprehensive

[2:38:58] strategy for redevelopment in this area

[2:39:01] we are working with Partners at MLB and

[2:39:05] kfk who are here tonight as well as

[2:39:07] David from the land bank to discuss this

[2:39:10] proposal which we are excited about

[2:39:13] because it's it's for home ownership so

[2:39:16] this isn't for you know a large

[2:39:19] development this is to create it is

[2:39:21] ourselves but it's for it's for home

[2:39:23] ownership and we're excited about that

[2:39:25] aspect of it so

[2:39:27] um I want to invite Pam swanigan from

[2:39:30] AFA and Damien

[2:39:33] um we have a quick there's just a quick

[2:39:34] presentation here that I'll that will

[2:39:37] let them go through and then we can talk

[2:39:39] about the actual

[2:39:40] um options

[2:39:44] absolutely I'm looking at the pan first

[2:39:46] so

[2:39:48] um aik Property Group

[2:39:58] in general thank you very much this is a

[2:40:01] once in a generation opportunity from my

[2:40:04] perspective as a small uh

[2:40:08] African-American developer in the area

[2:40:12] we're able to create generational wealth

[2:40:16] through creation of new homes

[2:40:19] it's not rentals and the most important

[2:40:22] and exciting part about it is that the

[2:40:25] homes that we sell will be the first

[2:40:29] individuals who live in the neighborhood

[2:40:31] and then we will cast The Net wider but

[2:40:34] we want to focus

[2:40:36] primarily on those who've lived in the

[2:40:38] neighborhood for a while and so um I'm

[2:40:41] gonna

[2:40:43] the gentleman over there I don't

[2:40:45] remember your name you were talking

[2:40:46] about Ami the homes would be affordable

[2:40:50] um 80 Ami and that will make it more

[2:40:57] available and possible for the Neighbors

[2:41:00] so we've been listening to the

[2:41:01] neighborhood and this is what they

[2:41:03] wanted not rentals well we made rentals

[2:41:06] of course but they also need homes that

[2:41:09] they can pass on to the next Generation

[2:41:11] so with that I'll let

[2:41:13] um

[2:41:14] Daniel talked more about the technical

[2:41:17] pieces

[2:41:18] um thank you very much you don't mind

[2:41:19] going back on this live for a moment I

[2:41:22] think that you know I'm especially

[2:41:24] excited about being able to have this

[2:41:26] partnership with aik I think MLB's

[2:41:28] Mission and aik's Mission are very

[2:41:32] synergistic in this particular situation

[2:41:34] and between the two of us what we're

[2:41:36] really looking at doing is improving the

[2:41:37] city is connected in one neighborhood at

[2:41:39] a time we're hoping to create a program

[2:41:41] that's going to be reused throughout all

[2:41:44] Schenectady and have something that is

[2:41:46] going to be successful and as Pam said

[2:41:48] really create that generation of wealth

[2:41:50] that Equity those homeowner ownership

[2:41:52] homeowner opportunities that we're

[2:41:55] looking to create thank you

[2:41:57] so moving on to some of the specifics of

[2:41:59] it we're looking at 19 Parcels in and

[2:42:01] around 7th Avenue there are 18 that the

[2:42:04] city owns one we're working with the

[2:42:05] park with the county

[2:42:08] um you know we are still looking at

[2:42:09] potentially adding additional if that

[2:42:12] works but from the moment we really want

[2:42:13] to get these under control

[2:42:15] the district is R1 and R2 zelding we

[2:42:18] have a little over 12 Hertz total linear

[2:42:20] photo Frontage you know kind of

[2:42:23] hearkening back to the sidewalk

[2:42:25] initiative we're going to be replacing

[2:42:27] the sidewalks in front of the homes that

[2:42:29] were renovating but obviously we would

[2:42:31] still love to see kind of a continued

[2:42:33] Community Renewal and support so having

[2:42:36] something that allows you to kind of

[2:42:38] redo that whole streetscape would really

[2:42:41] be beneficial across the board

[2:42:43] we're looking to do 21 proposed

[2:42:45] structures of those structures that will

[2:42:48] be 41 living units so we're looking at

[2:42:50] doing about 20 attached duplex style but

[2:42:54] they will be built and sold as single

[2:42:56] families with a full two-hour rate in

[2:42:58] between the two families we've seen this

[2:43:00] done in some larger instances in the

[2:43:02] suburbs we're trying to make home

[2:43:04] ownership a little bit more affordable

[2:43:05] and we're kind of paring it down and

[2:43:07] focusing on you know targeting people

[2:43:10] who are making between 40 and 65 000 a

[2:43:13] year to be able to afford that so we're

[2:43:16] targeting schenectadys 80 Ami not the

[2:43:19] whole census trap and we're essentially

[2:43:23] performing

[2:43:25] home ownership opportunities where you

[2:43:28] can own your own home less than twelve

[2:43:30] hundred dollars a month Piti working

[2:43:32] with Metroplex on on some of the

[2:43:34] particulars of it but we're really

[2:43:36] excited to be at that Target price point

[2:43:39] so you know that's kind of the overall

[2:43:42] we are working on several different

[2:43:44] initiatives with this program uh we are

[2:43:47] examinating examining modular housing as

[2:43:49] an opportunity we're examining smarter

[2:43:52] networks we are examining we had really

[2:43:54] anything that we can do to bring the

[2:43:57] cost of living and the cost of home

[2:43:59] ownership down for the end user the main

[2:44:01] goal at the end of the day is to provide

[2:44:04] affordable TurnKey solutions for again

[2:44:07] that Target popular is 40 to 65 000 a

[2:44:11] year and one thing that's very near and

[2:44:14] dear to Ron Gardner and of course the

[2:44:16] mayor and everyone else's heart is the

[2:44:19] need to make sure that the mwve

[2:44:21] community is included during the

[2:44:24] construction process and we're going to

[2:44:27] try what we can to have

[2:44:30] workers from seat

[2:44:32] and also

[2:44:35] movement of protege opportunities where

[2:44:37] we can to make sure that not only are we

[2:44:42] creating new housing opportunities but

[2:44:45] we want to teach and show those that are

[2:44:48] interested how to actually

[2:44:51] build these homes especially if we're

[2:44:53] able to get the modules

[2:44:59] so from a timeline standpoint you know

[2:45:02] we're looking to essentially get the

[2:45:04] option agreement approved so that we can

[2:45:06] begin to move forward and spending some

[2:45:08] hard cash doing due diligences getting

[2:45:10] our drawings together environmentals

[2:45:12] working on the actual entitlement

[2:45:15] um you know the process and David will

[2:45:16] of course directly if I'm wrong but you

[2:45:19] know we're essentially asking for the uh

[2:45:21] an option with the city for the land

[2:45:23] bank and then they're looking off from

[2:45:24] the rnt to kind of turn around and we'll

[2:45:27] close all of that at once and we're

[2:45:29] looking to be closing in July

[2:45:36] we've already had a lot of discussions

[2:45:38] with financing Partners already we do

[2:45:40] have turn sheets in place from Banks

[2:45:42] we've met with HCR on the particular

[2:45:45] subsidy that we're looking at using this

[2:45:46] is going to be a new subsidy to

[2:45:48] affordable home ownership opportunity

[2:45:49] program

[2:45:50] we're really excited to be able to take

[2:45:53] that subsidy and push the sale prices

[2:45:55] down very aggressively like I said 150

[2:45:59] 000 for home ownership and really we

[2:46:03] want to get shovels in the ground and

[2:46:05] start kind of working this July and

[2:46:07] August so that's kind of we've prefaced

[2:46:09] ourselves to do and then be able to have

[2:46:12] housing up and running in the first

[2:46:14] quarter of next year

[2:46:17] exactly I I just wanted to to clarify

[2:46:20] that we're so we're looking to enter an

[2:46:22] option agreement with the capital region

[2:46:24] land bank for these properties they are

[2:46:26] going to be working on the demolitions

[2:46:28] and some of the demolitions and asbestos

[2:46:30] have been in different things like that

[2:46:32] so that that is the ask is that we enter

[2:46:36] um an option agreement with the land

[2:46:38] bank

[2:46:41] closer so David at The Landings on David

[2:46:45] at Metro Place yeah so you might want to

[2:46:48] know why why are we really involved here

[2:46:49] so the governor obviously has put a lot

[2:46:51] of money into affordable housing uh the

[2:46:53] ahop program affordable home ownership

[2:46:55] program is is a new initiative that

[2:46:58] allows you to build Roundup housing

[2:47:00] which is great you know it's more energy

[2:47:02] efficient it's very very hard to get

[2:47:03] some of our properties up to energy code

[2:47:05] so it's it's a new program also there's

[2:47:08] been a new commitment from the state for

[2:47:10] land Banks we started receiving some of

[2:47:12] our operations funding again we added

[2:47:14] about a year or two off from when some

[2:47:16] of our original funding had uh had dried

[2:47:18] up and we have a phase two uh program

[2:47:21] that was just announced and we'll be

[2:47:23] applying for it in March for additional

[2:47:26] Project funding so you know there's I

[2:47:28] think we identified a ninth uh property

[2:47:30] that should come down it's unsafe uh

[2:47:34] it's been sitting there blighted for too

[2:47:35] long it will allow the land bank to

[2:47:37] participate in taking that demolition

[2:47:39] Mountain you know we're pretty good at

[2:47:41] and we'll be very excited and you know

[2:47:43] make our uh our application even more

[2:47:46] successful the state knowing that we

[2:47:47] have two terrific developers partnering

[2:47:50] uh behind us to uh to make this new

[2:47:52] homeownership opportunity so if you have

[2:47:54] any questions for me please let me know

[2:48:03] so um I know that Miss swanigan talked

[2:48:07] about like Partnerships and making sure

[2:48:09] homeownership and people from the

[2:48:10] community can you talk more about the

[2:48:12] initiatives that you really talked about

[2:48:14] doing parallel in terms of Preparing

[2:48:16] People while you're doing the work oh

[2:48:18] thank you for that question

[2:48:21] um that's really important

[2:48:23] not only will we be partnering with bcni

[2:48:27] to do the initial first-time homebuyer

[2:48:31] workshops but we've reached out to you

[2:48:34] Inc because once you get in the home you

[2:48:37] also want to be able to stay in the home

[2:48:39] so that means you want to learn the

[2:48:42] basics of budgeting and so we have

[2:48:45] partnered with uh Angela Tatum and and

[2:48:49] her husband there's a non-for-profit organization and they

[2:48:54] do such terrific work you should go to

[2:48:55] the website it's a beautiful website and

[2:48:58] we will be partnering with them and

[2:49:00] making sure it's um eight or 12 week

[2:49:05] Workshop where they break down their

[2:49:07] budget know how much they need in order

[2:49:10] to meet with the mortgage so we want

[2:49:13] them to not just be able to buy the home

[2:49:16] we want them to be able to pay the bills

[2:49:18] and and stay in the home and one last

[2:49:23] thing I know that you've probably even

[2:49:25] talked about it that much but there's

[2:49:26] Energy Efficiency Focus from the state

[2:49:29] for that ahot program so we're able to

[2:49:31] maximize the amount per unit and so we

[2:49:36] will be focusing on that to help to help

[2:49:38] keep the utility costs down so I'm not

[2:49:40] sure that that answers your question it does it does okay I just want to

[2:49:45] clarify we want to clarify that you're

[2:49:47] paying for these properties they

[2:49:49] purchased by one time oh

[2:49:58] so the intent is 3 500 uh per lot uh

[2:50:03] what would happen is uh if we move

[2:50:05] forward uh and the problem which it will

[2:50:07] uh the 3500 will come back to the city

[2:50:10] the land bank is not trying to get any

[2:50:11] proceeds from this we're just trying to

[2:50:12] bring in some additional resources I

[2:50:14] just wanted to make sure that it was

[2:50:16] good enough very good point yeah

[2:50:20] and you did talk about

[2:50:23] um hiring local women and the

[2:50:25] organizations that you you were looking

[2:50:27] at

[2:50:27] and then the sidewalk so thank you for

[2:50:30] bringing that up because that was

[2:50:31] another part of our conversation and

[2:50:32] also

[2:50:33] you you'd mentioned that you would want

[2:50:35] people to maybe kind of um

[2:50:38] kind of give it kind of publicizes where

[2:50:41] he's looking for people who are looking

[2:50:42] to die

[2:50:44] um to be homeowners in this process so

[2:50:46] will there be a way that we we can be of

[2:50:49] assistance with that how would that work

[2:50:50] yes so

[2:50:52] um working in the m and wbe field for

[2:50:55] decades with the state I know how

[2:50:57] important Outreach is in the community

[2:50:59] and so we're looking to partner with any

[2:51:04] of the local influencers or people who

[2:51:08] have nice oh who have the reputation and the stature in the community to help

[2:51:13] bring this program to them so we can

[2:51:17] start the bedding we'd like to start the

[2:51:19] vetting tomorrow

[2:51:21] because we really need to sell the homes

[2:51:23] once we built and and we expect that it

[2:51:26] may take up to nine to 12 months to get some people ready to actually

[2:51:31] purchase their own prospective home

[2:51:33] buyers so we're looking for you to

[2:51:35] recommend

[2:51:36] um individuals in the community not

[2:51:39] necessarily just from the churches but

[2:51:41] other community activists who would like

[2:51:45] to partner with us I would love to sit

[2:51:47] and have coffee with them and we can go

[2:51:48] from there

[2:51:54] neighborhoods Incorporated the first

[2:51:57] time home ownership classes uh they have

[2:51:59] a wealth of information that can be get

[2:52:01] people prepared so that when they're

[2:52:03] looking uh to make their first home

[2:52:04] purchase hopefully one of these uh

[2:52:06] they'll have some down payment

[2:52:07] assistance and other resources available

[2:52:09] so those programs already exist and if

[2:52:12] people were to contact me or Christians

[2:52:14] department or better neighborhoods

[2:52:15] directly they could attract you to them

[2:52:17] so the homes you described early similar

[2:52:19] to the ones where you said that because

[2:52:21] you said that you could do they be side

[2:52:22] by side but you could buy one or the

[2:52:24] other are they similar to what they did

[2:52:25] on Hamilton Street with those houses

[2:52:27] there are you familiar with them

[2:52:32] so if you're still there yeah I think

[2:52:35] it's a similar model I'm particularly

[2:52:39] excited a few of the duplexes would be

[2:52:40] sold to a single buyer so they could

[2:52:42] possibly have some rental income or you

[2:52:45] know a different multi-generational

[2:52:47] situation or something like that but

[2:52:49] yeah I think if you're still little bit

[2:52:51] of work to do in the design

[2:52:52] but that is the concept

[2:52:56] another question can't remember this

[2:52:58] love so um I'm wondering and I'm

[2:53:01] wondering you're talking about focusing

[2:53:04] on people that live in the neighborhood

[2:53:07] so I'm all for that I think that's a

[2:53:10] great approach

[2:53:12] um wondering like how are we defining

[2:53:14] those in the neighborhood and are we

[2:53:16] able to do that I guess that was kind of

[2:53:18] my question for you for you if

[2:53:31] fair housing laws take precedence

[2:53:34] equipment right but we do Outreach and

[2:53:40] we start we start with the people in the

[2:53:43] neighborhood who asked

[2:53:45] to be able to buy homes where many of

[2:53:47] their families have lived for decades

[2:53:49] and generations and I think it's only

[2:53:52] right to bring it to them and then we

[2:53:54] cast The Net as wide as the market will

[2:53:57] allow

[2:53:58] okay yeah I I agree I agree with that at

[2:54:01] least I'm going to I just you know for

[2:54:03] me

[2:54:04] quite frankly I want to know because

[2:54:06] this sounds great this sounds amazing

[2:54:08] you know and I'm very excited I share

[2:54:10] your excitement around the project I

[2:54:11] just I'm looking for those um what you

[2:54:14] know what we might describe as the guard

[2:54:16] rails of equity for this to actually

[2:54:18] play out in its intended purpose

[2:54:21] um you know other scenarios you know not

[2:54:25] hearing the financing is connected of

[2:54:27] course just another scenario sometimes

[2:54:29] um these projects are taken out in with

[2:54:32] a certain energy and a certain uh

[2:54:34] culture about it and then

[2:54:37] you know hear things like well the

[2:54:38] Market's not there kind of like some of

[2:54:40] the feedback we hear and we talk about

[2:54:41] like section free workers like well

[2:54:43] there's none here so you know even

[2:54:45] though this money should be invested in the community which are often

[2:54:50] marginalized communities that money

[2:54:52] um as a matter of

[2:54:54] uh you know kind of practice ends up

[2:54:57] leaving so that's what my last question

[2:54:59] was about not about the great and

[2:55:01] amazing work that you're planning to do

[2:55:03] here

[2:55:05] um I I think I would like to respond by

[2:55:07] saying that

[2:55:08] you know aik's track record

[2:55:11] and even relatively short of that time

[2:55:13] has been very terrified and it's been

[2:55:15] very good in what they're bringing to

[2:55:16] the table

[2:55:17] on MLB has a 75-year track record of

[2:55:21] integrity and working with people and

[2:55:24] delivering on what we've promised that's

[2:55:25] why I've nobody's been able to be around

[2:55:26] for 75 years so I would say that you

[2:55:30] know your concerns are not invalid you

[2:55:33] know there's a lot of times where you

[2:55:34] know it feels like a mating switch

[2:55:36] sometimes there's there's a reason that

[2:55:38] sometimes the developers the bad guys

[2:55:39] are the RoboCop movies right like you

[2:55:41] don't want to have that you know massive

[2:55:44] just flip of expectations

[2:55:46] um so I think we're very sensitive to

[2:55:48] that and we're really looking forward to

[2:55:50] the opportunity to deliver on the

[2:55:51] product that they're uh that we're

[2:55:53] presenting today

[2:55:56] yeah

[2:55:58] um so definitely thank you for the

[2:55:59] presentation and the background and

[2:56:01] context to what the intent is with this project Endeavor and definitely

[2:56:05] have a lot of the efforts to see

[2:56:07] replicated throughout the community I

[2:56:09] definitely think it's important to

[2:56:10] highlight how we can partner with some

[2:56:12] of the other Generations but I think

[2:56:14] part of the uh

[2:56:16] um the Allure of New York City is how

[2:56:19] there are families that can cite that my

[2:56:22] grandfather built or worked on that

[2:56:24] skyscraper and I think that that's an

[2:56:26] important aspect to reach this next

[2:56:29] Generation to let them know and have

[2:56:31] that buy-in to be those boots on the

[2:56:34] ground for like a better words but um

[2:56:36] definitely the Schenectady has a

[2:56:38] plethora of resources available so are

[2:56:39] you still open to other Workforce

[2:56:42] Development programs that might be

[2:56:44] interested in partnering with you

[2:56:46] similar to how you envision apartment

[2:56:48] with the seat yeah absolutely I think

[2:56:50] that we you know we have the opportunity

[2:56:52] with this program to work on training

[2:56:55] and those skill sets to the populations

[2:56:58] you know we're currently factoring you

[2:57:01] know building these with union labor

[2:57:03] which is probably something unheard of

[2:57:06] that you're seeing with affordable

[2:57:07] housing and it does cost a little more

[2:57:08] to use Beauty labor but the benefit of

[2:57:10] that is that we can bring people in and

[2:57:12] have them be trained by Union Tradesmen

[2:57:16] who have been Carpenters who have really

[2:57:18] been able to do that and get that true

[2:57:20] experience on site and that was one of

[2:57:23] our founding principles when when we

[2:57:25] even first started talking about this

[2:57:26] project with rock Gardner and the

[2:57:28] affirmative action office is to make

[2:57:30] sure that we have a piece of it and

[2:57:32] we're going to continue to add anyone

[2:57:35] who is interested in working with us on

[2:57:36] that that portion of it as well

[2:57:40] Kevin I just want everyone to know how

[2:57:42] only we need it over here I'm sorry I

[2:57:44] just want everyone to know how unique

[2:57:45] this partnership is and how necessary it

[2:57:49] is because a traditional developer won't

[2:57:52] necessarily see enough meat on the bones

[2:57:54] if you will to go into

[2:57:57] an interested in neighborhood

[2:57:59] and build new housing that's quality

[2:58:03] sustainable and energy efficient and the

[2:58:08] ahop program as I said before is a once

[2:58:11] in a generational life

[2:58:13] opportunity for all of us to get behind

[2:58:16] to make sure we make impactful change

[2:58:19] over the next five years because this is

[2:58:22] one of hopel's initiatives

[2:58:24] it

[2:58:25] last I read it will be around for at

[2:58:28] least five years so we need to strike

[2:58:30] while the iron is hot get as many homes

[2:58:33] built as possible and get as many people

[2:58:36] engaged as possible

[2:58:40] and you mentioned unions and so I

[2:58:42] remember in the prior conversation said

[2:58:44] there may be opportunities for people to

[2:58:46] get into

[2:58:47] the union with your assistants through

[2:58:50] working on this project

[2:58:51] uh yeah that's correct we actually we've

[2:58:54] already assisted one individual getting

[2:58:56] into the Union from around the center

[2:58:58] where Jim dazi our president has

[2:59:01] sponsored them and you know that is

[2:59:04] going to or anticipate in continuing

[2:59:06] that initiative as well is that if

[2:59:08] people if you put the work in you have

[2:59:11] to you should have the same

[2:59:12] opportunities that everybody else has

[2:59:13] had and sometimes access to those

[2:59:15] opportunities is not really there so you

[2:59:18] know we really want this to provide the

[2:59:21] access to the opportunities so that you

[2:59:22] put the work in you either do the

[2:59:24] training you're doing the program if

[2:59:26] you're meeting with us you're doing the

[2:59:27] Empowerment Center doing C and you know

[2:59:30] you're not just doing it and they're

[2:59:31] turning around and going okay what now

[2:59:37] skills training program

[2:59:39] um that we started you know this past

[2:59:41] fall and I think I don't know the there

[2:59:44] was maybe just under 30 participants of

[2:59:46] that and then it's always a question of

[2:59:48] what is the next step so being able to

[2:59:50] actually engage them on a project that's

[2:59:51] happening in Schenectady to learn to

[2:59:53] continue to learn those skills in the

[2:59:55] field will be really really impactful I

[2:59:58] think sometimes we forget that we're

[3:00:05] not only having a conversation with

[3:00:07] ourselves there's also a number of

[3:00:08] viewers who are being engaged also if

[3:00:13] someone was looking into this

[3:00:14] conversation wanting to get more

[3:00:15] information can they reach out to

[3:00:18] YouTube and also how in contact with you

[3:00:22] um

[3:00:26] they can call me

[3:00:28] um I don't know if it's appropriate to

[3:00:30] give my number out um well you do have

[3:00:33] you have people work in the public

[3:00:34] sector too they can always contact you

[3:00:36] yeah

[3:00:41] uh yeah so um you can contact me at

[3:00:44] Metroplex that's where the land bank is

[3:00:46] operated out of Christians Department of development I didn't even

[3:00:49] explain how to you know get involved

[3:00:51] with the Union get a job in this but

[3:00:53] it's the same hard work to be mortgage

[3:00:54] ready here because at the end of the day

[3:00:56] what the state is doing is they're

[3:00:58] filling a gap because it's not always

[3:01:00] economically uh workable it's not a

[3:01:03] model that works to build these houses

[3:01:04] so the state is filling the Gap they're

[3:01:07] responsible for filling it at the end of

[3:01:09] the day they need mortgage qualified

[3:01:11] individuals to buy these because that's

[3:01:13] going to really improve the whole entire

[3:01:15] neighborhood we want as many of those

[3:01:17] folks who are already living in the

[3:01:19] neighborhood already call us home whose

[3:01:20] families call home but you need to start

[3:01:23] the work today you know you need to call

[3:01:25] me you need to call Kristen and we can

[3:01:26] direct you to the right people to take

[3:01:29] the steps you need to do to be

[3:01:30] financially prepared and have that

[3:01:32] commitment letter so that when they're

[3:01:34] done and they have the keys they have

[3:01:36] someone ready to move in and make this a

[3:01:37] great home and it's a terrific Street

[3:01:39] you look over those views uh you know it

[3:01:43] was out there today there's tremendous

[3:01:45] opportunity and the people who are

[3:01:47] already living there should be the first

[3:01:48] to get the opportunity but they need to

[3:01:50] start that work today

[3:01:52] thank you

[3:01:55] well I want to thank you for the work

[3:01:56] you've done for the partnership you've

[3:01:58] put together and because I I think it

[3:01:59] also is a very exciting project I'm

[3:02:01] looking forward to it and uh so thank

[3:02:03] you and you know waiting for the ground

[3:02:05] to be several big round in June

[3:02:09] so thank you for the bill for always

[3:02:11] over commitment

[3:02:15] and I think I could speak for all of us

[3:02:17] as council members we would want to

[3:02:19] partner and make sure that we have

[3:02:20] people from the community to uh to

[3:02:22] assist getting connected with you and

[3:02:25] I'll share my card with you okay if

[3:02:28] anyone wants okay

[3:02:31] so thank you so they ask us to authorize

[3:02:34] the city of Schenectady to enter into an

[3:02:37] option agreement with the capital region

[3:02:39] land bank for the parcels that were

[3:02:40] listed there was one parcel that wasn't

[3:02:43] on that list and the request that we had

[3:02:46] forwarded to Sam so I just wanted to

[3:02:47] make sure when we do move forward that

[3:02:49] it's included in the can you tell the

[3:02:51] resolution I believe it's 546. I have it

[3:02:54] right here yeah it's yeah it's 549 uh

[3:02:57] Summit Avenue session block and law

[3:02:59] 49.31-3-46.1

[3:03:04] 49 49 that coin Thirty Thirty-One Dash

[3:03:09] three dash 46.1 okay everybody knows

[3:03:14] that block right yeah it's also known as

[3:03:16] 559 Summit Avenue

[3:03:18] what's the number 549 Summit Avenue I

[3:03:21] believe that's what Mr Brown said in his

[3:03:23] email okay

[3:03:24] um the only

[3:03:26] um question I have for the council in

[3:03:28] terms of drafting this if it's going to

[3:03:29] be approved is

[3:03:31] um it's an assignable purchase option

[3:03:33] agreement with the land bank assignable

[3:03:35] to either aik or this is the development

[3:03:39] team or uh MLB

[3:03:42] um and then obviously the length of time

[3:03:43] to exercise that option so it's not a

[3:03:45] never-ending option and

[3:03:50] [Music]

[3:04:18] all right

[3:04:23] how long the council wants to keep the

[3:04:25] option open so it doesn't run

[3:04:27] indefinitely which

[3:04:29] and we have an existing access agreement

[3:04:31] uh where we can

[3:04:33] request to the mayor to allow us to

[3:04:35] access the property so we can move

[3:04:37] forward with removal at the same time

[3:04:39] okay so that doesn't it's you want to

[3:04:42] know the length of the options yeah

[3:04:46] uh 18 months I think is a is a fair

[3:04:49] consumption yeah okay that sounds good

[3:04:51] we won't need 18 months

[3:04:55] does that answer your questions yes it

[3:04:58] does thank you and you know we'll try to

[3:05:00] keep everyone updated too as as projects

[3:05:02] move along and you know we'll just try

[3:05:05] to keep everyone updated on the progress

[3:05:06] obviously

[3:05:08] I think we're committed to making

[3:05:10] something happen on Summit and we're

[3:05:12] happy to have the partners that we have

[3:05:14] right now so

[3:05:15] any other questions or comments

[3:05:18] not contain a motion second all those in

[3:05:22] favor thank you

[3:05:25] forward to it

[3:05:28] okay the next item in the agenda is a

[3:05:31] change to the public assembly

[3:05:32] application and fees

[3:05:45] thank you

[3:05:50] all right so I just want to change the

[3:05:53] language for the public assembly fee and

[3:05:55] add a new line for having Affordable

[3:05:58] Feed to the public because I need to

[3:05:59] currently have the reason for this is

[3:06:03] when we do our daily report was reported

[3:06:05] by state we have a hard time

[3:06:08] um

[3:06:20] so by adding these fees we'll be able to

[3:06:22] run more accurately

[3:06:27] are there any questions everyone has the

[3:06:29] information center for the fee changes

[3:06:33] so just to be clear there's the highest

[3:06:36] fee was 250 dollars and that has not

[3:06:39] gone up so it's not been a fee increase

[3:06:41] in that in that way that's great it's

[3:06:43] just that there was an additional fee

[3:06:45] included so it started 75 and then it

[3:06:48] was 125 and then they're adding 200 to

[3:06:51] ensure that they can capture it

[3:06:52] correctly for the reports that you have

[3:06:54] to run is that correct that's correct

[3:06:59] are there any questions

[3:07:08] hi thank you oh thank you

[3:07:14] he's the only one first time

[3:07:16] okay the next time I'm Gonna Get You

[3:07:18] there's a ceremony resolution

[3:07:19] recognizing Black History Month Mr

[3:07:22] Farley thank you president

[3:07:25] um as we all are aware of Black History

[3:07:28] Month is here on black history is

[3:07:30] American history

[3:07:31] um it's just uh this is just another

[3:07:33] opportunity for us to uplift recognize

[3:07:37] on the contributions

[3:07:39] um made by uh black people in this

[3:07:42] country

[3:07:43] um and and abroad and I think that you

[3:07:45] know every time you get an opportunity

[3:07:46] you should do that um

[3:07:48] resolution

[3:07:50] um and doing and recognizing black

[3:07:52] history again as American history

[3:07:54] any questions

[3:07:58] so second Alan Baker aye

[3:08:02] uh the next item is a ceremony

[3:08:05] resolution recognizing Foundry foundry's

[3:08:07] Day for the NAACP so the NAACP is

[3:08:12] celebrating 114 years anniversary of

[3:08:15] being founded and uh so the the

[3:08:18] legislative request is there in front of

[3:08:20] you so what I'd like the council to do

[3:08:22] and there is going to be a celebration

[3:08:24] this year held by the NAACP uh and

[3:08:27] Schenectady so I just wanted to make

[3:08:29] sure that we had a resolution to be a

[3:08:31] part of that celebration and recognition

[3:08:33] so I'm asking for a resolution for that

[3:08:38] so second I was in favor um

[3:08:42] okay the rest of the items on the agenda

[3:08:46] are for property sales so we would have

[3:08:49] to go into the access to that so this

[3:08:52] time I'm going to recess City

[3:08:54] development and planning

[3:08:56] so second all in favor all right we're

[3:08:59] recess

[3:09:00] I'd like to call over the claims

[3:09:02] committee we have three episodes in

[3:09:04] Genesis active sessions so I'd like to

[3:09:07] ask for a motion

[3:09:10] litigation

[3:09:12] publicly

Schenectady City Council Committee Meeting, February 6, 2023

Transcript