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I'd like to call the city Caucus meeting
to order for Monday October 23rd
2023 we have six items for original
consideration if the clerk would please
read item number one item number one for
final consideration an ordinance to
amend section
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248-1829 discuss in committee with an
objection on consent item number three for original
consideration consideration a resolution
authorizing an allocation of
$750,000 of arpa funds for the 1913
North Ferry Street Pump Station
discussed in committee with objection on
consent item number four item number
four for original consideration a
resolution confirming the appointment of
Keith St John to the city of skty
Civilian review board discussed in
committee without objection and on sent
item number five item number five for
original consideration a resolution
authorizing the settlement of a claim by
Miguel Palmer discussed in committee
with objection on consent item number
six item number six under contract and
Supply a resolution awarding the bid and
contract for installation of Emergency
Equipment for police vehicles to
Automotive Solutions of New York
incorporated in the total amount of
$365,500 consent if there's nothing to
come more to come before the city
council caucus I ask
yes well we already passed it so she
when I I'll get to that and I'll call
her when it's
time if there's nothing more to come
before the city council caucus I'd ask
her a motion to adjourn motion by Mr
Williams second by Miss Patrick all in
favor I'd like to call the city council
meeting to order for Monday October 23rd
2023 and I'd like to call on rever
Ronald hunt for the prayer
invocation
I'm excited to offer this invitation for
this meeting of this connected city
council this week as I have for many
years I moving my Ministry to Ames New
York in November and I want to thank the
many citizens and City officials that
have the pleasure of working for and
with over the years this is my wish that
we always take something out of each day
to be thankful for and something to
improve upon tomorrow this opportunity
to address our elected officials has a
parallel
you the citizens have elected them to
serve the city you may not always agree
with them but they do try to meet and
exceed your expectations to do their
best for our fellow citizens against
many challenges not always of their own
making or choosing we are thankful for
this opportunity to seek to improve our
city and its citizens this is my
encouragement to those assembled tonight
to not only address the challenges that
we all acknowledge are present but to
offer Creative Solutions where possible
so they can serve you better please
remember not only your personal
situation but also our neighbors who are
unhoused or housing insecure those who
need employment or are
unemployed those who are hungry or
physically and emotionally challenged we
must always remember to give thanks that
we are healthy enough to be here today
we give thanks for the education that's
has prepared us for the responsibility
of leadership we must find those
Creative Solutions for the next
generation of our neighbors children who
are struggling in school or in
struggling schools and pray that we
would work to continue to increase
access to an education will prepare all
our children to succeed in life remember
our neighbors who live with debilitating
poverty and hope that we would work to
increase the pathways at of generational
Financial struggle we give thanks for
the welcome we received this evening
from colleagues and friends who valued
our contributions to the life of our
city let us dream for just one minute
for a larger goal
a city and a world where everyone
flourishes and where no one knows
anything but peace thank you all it's
been a pledge thank you I'd like to call
on Mary mlan to lead us in the Pledge of
Allegiance iedge Al to the flag United
States
stand God indivisible with liy and
justice for all thank you
I'd ask the clerk to please complete the
roll
call Mr muan is absent Mr Toro here Mr
Farley is absent Mr Williams here miss
Patrick here Mr palamini Miss
Porterfield here there was a resolution
passed recognized the hearts Family
Cleaners at the last council meeting so
no motion is needed and I'd like to call
on council member Doro to present this
resolution thank you madam president
have the floor you have the floor I
invite uh Sue and Steve and any guests
they have to come forward inside the
rail
here
whereas oh I need to make a mo motion no
she asked for the
floor I asked you ask for the floor go
ahead now thank you at the end right yes
at the
end whereas 1714 Union Street has been
home to dry cleaning business for many
years before Sue and Steven Harts
established Hearts Family Cleaners 25
years ago this is a true family business
with Steve doing all the operations and
Sue handling the front counter marketing
and whereas over the years each of their
three boys have worked in the cleaner
they have employed many people over the
years and have always given back to the
community and whereas this location has
been a staple for people to find out
what is going on in the
community the community bulletin board
is update always updated with services
and events in and around concy selling
tickets for various not for-profits such
as the annual Garden Tour and
the oh yeah
sophomore sopis sophomores and
s Optimus and whereas Hearts Family
Cleaners has been recognized by this
connected Chamber of Commerce at their
annual good news lunch in and whereas
they have consistently been awarded best
of the best People's Choice from The
Daily Gazette as best dry cleaner and
whereas Hearts family cleaner has
delivered their services in and around
connecti serving Office Buildings home
delivery and providing their services to
Proctor shows and whereas Hearts Family
Cleaners has been a collection site for
annual coat drive coat for kids
supplying coats to underprivileged
children and adults now therefore it be
resolved that the city of uh that the
connected city council and may Mayor
Gary AR McCarthy do hereby pause in
their deliberations to recognize
congratulate and thank Sue and Steven
hars for their 25 years of providing dry
cleaning services to scenc and wish them
well in their Endeavor in their next
life I'd like to move this yes I need a
second second by Mr palamini
motion passes
congratulations well we have a lot of
customers in this room right now and um
the mayor is one of them and as we were
going through our stuff I came across
this picture of our other mayor with our
other president and we didn't dry clean
Obama's coat but we did O clean
Brian's
so thank you very much city of SKC has
been very good to us thank you all
thanks thanks thank you thank Youk
you
pictures and thank you for the years of
service to our
city ask for approval of the minutes for
October 10th
2023 I'm sorry approval of the minutes
for October move by Miss
Patrick second by Mr Williams all in
favor I ask the clerk to please read any
Communications and
petitions Communications presented to
city council for Monday October 23rd
2023 under official from the mayor a
list of appointments dat dated October
23
2023 from the mayor a letter
recommending Keith St John to the SKC
civilian police review board under
General from Reverend James kikki and
email requesting arpa funding for the
construction of a halfcourt basketball
court in the small pocket park on Main
wing and pearl streets in Mount Pleasant
and under petitions from the residents
of Bedford Road a petition of 74
signatures for installation of traffic
calming devices such as speed bumps and
stop signs and for stricter enforcement
of city ordinance for violation of pet
waste
disposal thank you ask call on council
members for any committee
reports Mr Toro thank
you so as I I as the uh chairperson of
the public service and utilities
committee I'd just like to announce some
upgrades at the a diamond um as of right
of today two 90 foot lighting poles were
installed on the first Baseline two 90
foot lighting poles were installed on
the third Baseline and four 80 foot
poles in the
Outfield this lighting was chosen by the
city is connec because it's approved for
collegate play and each year in addition
to the a diamond being home to Brian and
Stratton it also hosts over seven
tournaments a year each tournament
believe it or not bringing 60 to 100
teams a year to our city so not only is
it a revenue to our city but also uh
provides ancill support to our local
econ economy and just as a side note um
the SE diamond is undergoing some major
Renovations now which will allow more
play in 2024 but with the uh polls going
up and utilities I just wanted to bring
that to everyone's attention thank you
thank
you this time we have privilege of the
floor related to the legislative agenda
I have no one else signed up signed up
to speak so I declare the public comment
on the legislative agenda
closed
I ask for approval of the legislative
consent agenda motion by Miss Patrick
second by Mr Williams all in favor
I now we will have privilege of the
floor regarding General City business
and I have five people who are signed up
to speak just want to remind speakers
that you have three minutes you will
hear a
timer first person is Bruce shell
good evening I'm here to discuss a
resolution um that went out for public
comment in April but it's a resolution
associated with property that borders
our property over in uh the skn city of
connected eastern boundary I think it is
um it's a milia Street currently it's a
paper Street um an Amilia Street our
back property of our lot borders that
street uh currently the proposal has
kind of shut us out to have access to
that back property because we have a
structure on that back property that we
mow and
maintain um it was I guess public
comment goes into the Gazette I would or
notification goes in the Gazette the
legal notification I don't read the
legal notices in The Gazette every day
but um my mother-in-law who is nice
enough to pay her taxes on the
throughout the year she's approached the
city numerous times on this property on
what the status of the property would be
and every time she was told that nothing
would be done with this street because
first of all it was a secondary access
to the Old City
Landfill and it was just a paper Street
in its history would remain that way uh
recently a neighbor who just took over
the trustee of his mother who has a
house um that borders aelia Street uh
put a proposal in or resolution
of all partial owners that surround that
property and we were never notified
through the mail or anything so the only
way I found out as a neighbor um found
out and said hey Bruce you know this
person's trying to purchase this
property and you're not going to have
access to it so I called Maurice uh Mr
Maurice Brown immediately last Monday
when I heard that and um he told me to
come and speak to the council about this
issue uh I've revi I've got a couple
revisions to his proposal which should
keep everybody happy you know including
him um I think it's real important to
him more than me because his driveway is
actually on the paper Street and it's
been there for 50 years that way that's
where they've parked their cars um so if the paper street is not not sold to
him he's not going to have a driveway
for his house so um my proposal would be
to divide the paper Street in half for
the length of it that goes to the Old
City Landfill and um
we would get one half he would get the
other half or because of the fact that
we've maintained twoth thirds of the
property for 33 years um that we would
get the back 2/3 and split the front um
third so I think that's fair I think
it's fair to him it gives him access to
what he needs and it's I think it's fair
to us that gives us access to the
property we maintain behind our our shed
which has been there for probably over a
hundred years my the neighbors tell me
at one point it was a chicken cpop it
was there when we bought it we didn't
tear it down or modify it or anything
but it still exists there and we still maintain the 2/3 of the
property we mow it on on Saturday you
know so I think just a fair proposal for
this resolution would be to divide it up
where we have access to our back
property from 1870 Grey Street because
we drive around with our riding mower
and do the Mowing and the raking and
cleaning the garbage and unfortunately
for us the backside or the two-thirds of
the of the property is where the wind
blows all the garbage and all the leaves
and each year we take a full-size dump
trailer out of there of leaves and the
proposer approached us actually in the
spring when we were doing our spring
cleanup and said boy this is a lot of
work and then went back to his mother's
house so okay I'm going to need you to
summarize please so I would like to give
a revision to his proposal I have a
written revision here um for you guys to
um look at and decide whether you know
this is fair than his proposal or that
we could still have access to our
property all right thank you thank you
very
much Ed Leen Jr good evening news
connectivty same corruption it's not
Captain Nora of the police department
it's the mayor three corrupt judges and
the city council
members I can throw in the Gazette and
Times Union and news stations I've been
to all of them the mayor who was
supposed to enforce the laws of the city
and to ensure Justice refuses to meet
with me after I have given him and the
council members proof of my
allegations city council members are
supposed to help citizens when they have
problems with the government Farley has
tried to get a car with a flat tire and
no plates returned with no fine imposed
palamini has told me you can't do
anything to us I spoke to an attorney it
is your job to help me you swear an oath
to the Constitution it's a color of law
violation conspiracy to deprive someone
of their constitutional rights and you
were all complicit after the fact of
pho's crimes and tus Frost I SOA denies
my ethics complaint without a
hearing just like valo who vacated my
default judgment before hearing any
evidence it's called due process I've
been to Sheriff's Department City police
five six times
each they fail to uh meet with me so
I'll do my report online Mr Mayor I have
a problem with isopo denying my ethics
complaint without a hearing I also have
a problem with all council members in
the paper says I must go to the mayor
when would you like to meet with me you
are running for reelection don't tell me
you don't have to meet with me that is a
mayor's job valo is running for Supreme
Court keeping his crimes of obstruction
of justice is a crime that is if
convicted of you can no longer hold
public office I will expose all of you
that do nothing I am not going away I
will start going to new stations in
different states and to YouTubers that
have 3 to 500,000 views
daily again how do you justify doing
nothing about pho Frost and Hoffman at
least Hoffman was smart enough to
retire I will make this my life's
mission to nail you Mr Mayor Pho Frost
and the city
council thank you thank
you Tom cap
capano Mr Mayor and City Council Members
my name is Tom capuano I'm here about
the Hans Groot kill I addressed you last
month on the same subject but since then
I've learned a lot more about the feal
contamination of that Creek and what I
learned is really really disturbing
because I attend Sunday services at a
church right on the banks of the Hans
group kill now granted my personal
exposure is
minimal but imagine the consternation of
those whose homes border the creek and
of those who live Downstream and of
those who drink Mohawk River water
tinged with polluted Hans Gro kill
outflow if they only knew what I just
learned
recently that the federally established
regulatory limit for
ocus is 60 parts per sampling I repeat
the limit is
60 while the presence of Interra
cookus a fecal indicator pathogen has
been measured on the Hans group
kill at
40,000 parts per
sampling now those are extreme days of
heavy rain but even so it is chronically
in excess of the 60 parts for sampling I
fear that this may indicate a disaster
just waiting to
happen especially with all the heavy
rains that we keep getting as the
climate keeps
warming now I also learned that the city
is taking this threat serious
seriously that's a good thing and that
further testing has been and is being
conducted and that results are
anticipated soon maybe even as soon as
the end of this
month I and my fellow congregants here
with me today we do not expect the
findings to be pleasant or reassuring at
all but we do continue to insist that
they be made public as soon as they are
available so that the city and The Wider
Community can address this problem head
on and maybe begin to look at other
Creeks such as the cow horn
Creek and work to bring about
remediation of The Chronic discharge of
sewage into the creek Creeks that flow
through this
city thank you thank
you
Tom
Kennedy good
evening just a couple notes I was going
to do something different tonight but
after a coming here I found out some
things that were said in the news today
about last uh last uh week's meeting and
I I have to say this that I've been
through a lot of budget type
meetings and I got to tell you that one
was the biggest joke that I've ever
seen uh you know if you're going to had
the fire chief and the police chief
there at least ask him questions on what
is the best way to handle
overtime you know we had one councilman
who said he want want to digest it well
here's the thing I I can I can lay this
down just as quick as possible 500 grand
out of the police budget 500 grand out
of the firefighter budget and another
$100,000 out of the police digest
that the problem you have is you have
seasoned professionals with the fire
chief and the police chief bringing
numbers to this Council they're not
fluff they are based Bas upon available
Manpower contractual obligation Trends
special events in the needs of our city
they're not there padding anybody's
pension or trying to uh spend money that
they don't have I hear another C
councilman say he's tired he doesn't
want to throw bodies at it well those
bodies happen to be police officers
those same people who protect our city
so to even mention them in that way I
thought was a disgusting U uh a
disgusting way to to refer to these these
professionals and just make another
Point U the city council doesn't throw
bodies at anything the only people who
assign police officers and firefighters
are the Chiefs under direction of the
mayor unless there's something else that
I don't know what's going on that's the
way things go
so if we are going to have any kind of
credibility going forward into a budget
that they're already calling for a
shortfall we're going to have to start
taking realistic views of this and to
make a million.
one uh budget cut is only going to make
a structural deficit that you're going
to pass on when you don't have the
Democratic slush fund uh AR the arpa
money that's gone so then the only thing
that could is out the old back pocket of
the
taxpayers so you know we got to stop
this rhetoric and these these these you know bodies and you oh
you know I'm going to digest this and
all you know the bottom like that that
councel wasn't even at the meeting all
whole time and and again we look back to
what what kind of messag are We given uh
by people not being here tonight so I
mean if this is going to be a real thing
we got to start we have to start uh
listening to the people who are
responsible for protecting us and that's
the police chief and the fire chief and
cutting a million1 out of our budget for
that that's only going to pass a budget
on a deficit next year is a disgrace and
as far as you want to be leaders take a
pay cut you guys take a pay cut take
your health insurance take that off the
board you don't have to pay for your
health and maybe that pension that you
get so I mean a lot of people don't
realize uh the city council gets that
those things and they do so why don't
you push them to the side until we get
the budget fixed and then take a pay cut
instead of taking a pay raise as far as
I'm concerned you don't deserve a dime
thank you thank
you Mary
mlan good
evening I know the city like the palm of
my hand for 40 years I regularly
attended City Council
meetings regarding the council race the
office comes with a salary medical
coverage and a pension plan when I ran
for City Council in
2011 one of my issues was to raise the
salary and eliminate the medical
coverage for Council Members it costs
the tax payers less to in salary than it
does for medical insurance medical
insurance
increases every year there is also
another
perk if the council person has coverage
from another source the office holder is
given the cash instead of the
coverage as for the noise maker
unfortunately he is not here tonight Mr
Farley he says he reads
contracts I too read the contract I was
given my own
copy the contracts are filled with
pork I was told the SKC firemen have the
best Pension Plan of any group group in
the country on another item a policeman
does not retire on his base salary he
can use the last three years of his
income for his retirement
benefit therefore a potential
reti can approve unlimited overtime
toward retirement benefits
unfortunately many of these workers do
not live in
SKC which brings me to another Point
residency must be
mandatory for anyone who wants a job in
the city your recruiting methods are
flawed you can not recruit in Albany or
Glen PS and expect people to
relocate recruit in
Ohio Virginia Maine they have no choice
but to move to the
city on another note I was interested in
the dialogue printed in The Gazette
between Mr goem and Mr Gillan
on the night that the forer resigned
from
Metroplex Mr Gillan insisted that
Metroplex job is to bring businesses to
the city sadly the businesses are not
required to keep their businesses
clean this is an item where council
members have been remissed the litter
problem in sceny has gotten worse since
you have been here if I can see the
litter on the streets When I visit the
city so can you please clean it up thank
you thank
you I have no one else signed up to
speak so I declare public can I
speak I'm going to make an exception
this time but I you know the rules and
you were supposed to sign it when you
first came in sorry that I didn't get a
chance to write down my my name I
apologize I'm Karen Zuki junis I live in
the city and I want to just congratulate
my friend Sue hars and her husband Steve
for their 25 years of uh longevity in
the city and their on to their
retirement um I'd also ask that each and
every one of you take a hard look at the
budget and what you're doing with the
budget in reference to the police
department and the fire department the
overtime is something that should not be
cut I think that we need to really dive
deep into this and understand that we're
at the fourth quarter of the year and
those funds are going to be used very
quickly over the next several months so
cutting the budget by NE by a
significant amount and overtime for next
year I think is not prudent so I would
instill you to all look at those numbers
and you know have faith in what the
mayor puts forth I think he's done a
good job I think the commissioner's done
a good job and I would hope that there
would be some sort of consensus made
where the police and fire time overtime
is not cut thank you thank
you I have no one else signed up to
speak so I declare public comment of
City business
closed miscellaneous business of council
members Miss
Patrick yes I'd actually like to um talk
about our police and our fire um our
fire department I know that this weekend
was particularly
um tough for both our police and our
fire department um actually between
Friday morning and uh this morning there
were 144 calls that our fire department
responded to um obviously needed to use
overtime for for some of that um it's
only going to get worse for the next
couple of months which is one of their
busiest times of year and then also the
police department dealt with a homicide
and actually made arrests um in that
homicide so I think that really it's our
duty to um respect the work of um all of
the folks that are in the police
department and the fire department um
and I just want to thank them for
everything that they do uh the service
that they that they provide to keep our
residents safe thank you thank you Miss
Patrick Miss
Doro thank you so I just want to um
congratulate uh the city of connec and
the dsic for the Spooktacular event this
weekend that uh Proctor
um it happened to coincide with Encanto
and I happened to be at the fire uh
house station one and um they were
running back for all kinds of supplies
because they were just running out of
everything uh also coming up this week
is Union College they're doing an event
for all our little ones and big ones uh
at the college uh trick-or-treating and
of course scarcity which will happen on
Thursday night and I'm thankful for the
uh Fire Department police department and
for us uh supplying that money in the
budget so that they're able to do the
things with our community so I think
that's it thank you thank
you
mayor thank you Madame President uh
follow to council member Doro this
Thursday we'll have a scar NEC which is
uh coordinated with the uh fire
department and the police department
where uh their uh Personnel will go to
uh seven different locations in the time
available on the city website uh want to
have people come out have a safe
Halloween season it kicks it off uh
recently learned that Halloween is the
second most decorated event so people
spend Christmas is the first one and uh
Halloween has now moved up to be number
two and so when you go around the city
you get to see a lot of uh great
displays that are uh very festive and
some are just downright scary so that
want people to come out and be able to
enjoy that this weekend uh Mr Toro M
Patrick myself had the opportunity to
meet with the uh Representatives the Red
Cross Fire Department for Sound the
Alarm they have uh pretty much made that
an annual event where they come into
scnc to work with the fire department in
terms of messaging the replacement of
batteries and smoke and uh carbon
monoxide sensors and then to actually go
out in buildings where people don't have
the proper equipment in place and
actually install it so I think they did
32 different uh residences this weekend
uh then pointed out we had uh number we
had four fires in the last three days uh
again everybody that is here people that
are watching this it is a cheap
investment it's common sense but make
sure that your smoke alarm your carbon
monoxide sensor is
operable then this morning we also had
the opportunity to do a ceremonial
opening for FW web it's a plumbing
supply house that's located uh just off
Broadway and uh it's just another great
addition to our commercial activities
that's going on in the city of SKC thank
you Madame President thank you mayor uh
first of all I'd like to offer my
condolences to council member Farley and
the loss of his father Herman
Farley and um you know I was with the
family today so it's it's a difficult
loss for them and so um my prayers go
out to
them I'd like to thank everyone for
coming tonight to giving for giving your
input and letting us know about things
that are going on in the city and what
your concerns are greatly appreciate it
we definitely listen to what's going on
and uh Mr Shell is it pronounced I think
so um I'm asking our Corporation counsel
if he could just kind of go over that
particular um resolution with you all
right so if you if you just wouldn't
leave okay thank you um and in terms of
uh you know our police and fire I just
want to say and just make it clear that
we all do have respect for the work you
do the difficult job you do and we do
appreciate that and um so any you know
as we're making these decisions we're
taking into consideration all of the uh
the services all over the city and our
residents as well so we still have one
more meeting and before before we pass
this budget so just keeping that in mind
and uh want to thank council members for
their input and for um you know the
opportunity to have discussions around the budget so we will be meeting
tomorrow to for our final budget meeting
and with the hope that we will pass the
budget but keep in mind we have till
November 1st but our goal is that we
will be able to pass the budget
out uh with that I have nothing else and
I would ask for a motion to adjourn
moveed by Miss Patrick second by Mr
Williams all those in favor I we're
adjourned have a good
night you got all your
papers