[0:00] [Music]
[0:28] he
[0:32] [Music]
[1:58] yeah
[2:03] [Music]
[2:28] like to call the Order special city council meeting for Monday
[2:33] November 20th
[2:35] 2023 and the clerk would please call the
[2:38] rooll Mr L Baron present Mr Toro present
[2:43] Mr Farley is not here Mr
[2:46] Williams M Patrick here Mr pal here M
[2:50] pfield
[2:52] here if the
[2:55] clerk please read the notice of the
[2:57] meeting and proof of service and and I
[2:59] just want to just before that tell um
[3:02] the public that there's no other
[3:03] business that'll take place other than
[3:05] meeting uh the information that's going
[3:07] to be transacted based on the reading
[3:08] from the
[3:10] clerk Sor is the public going to get an
[3:13] opportunity to speak because I did get
[3:14] several calls and emails asking not
[3:17] durin the special meeting all right cuz
[3:19] uh I think if it was at a regular
[3:22] opportunity regular councel me people
[3:24] would have that opportunity I think it
[3:26] would be fair they would but but special
[3:28] the code speaks specifically to the
[3:30] special meeting D
[3:33] 28-3 okay we've done it
[3:39] before the uh the city council was
[3:42] served by um Regular the notice was sent
[3:46] to them and it reads media advisory
[3:48] amended connected city council to hold a
[3:50] special council meeting followed by the
[3:53] city council committee meeting when on
[3:55] Monday November 22nd 20th 2023 at 5:30
[3:59] p.m. where at SKC City Hall 105 J Street
[4:02] room 110 SKC New York 12305 details
[4:06] connect city council convene a special
[4:08] council meeting to pass a 2024 operating
[4:10] budget and capital budget for the city
[4:12] of SKC who this went up to the SK City
[4:16] Council
[4:18] Members pleas please read the agenda
[4:24] item item number one for original
[4:27] consideration an ordinance pursuant to
[4:28] section 36 of the second class City's
[4:30] laws and article F six of the charter of
[4:34] the city of scen approving and adopting
[4:36] the proposed operating budget for 2024
[4:38] and authorizing the Appropriations
[4:40] therein enumerated thank you at this
[4:43] time if there any um discussion from the
[4:46] city
[4:49] council Mr Williams uh I believe what
[4:52] the public witnessed during the entirety
[4:54] of this budget meeting was uh trying to
[4:57] understand how to best negotiate um what
[5:00] you've recognized was there are
[5:01] individuals on both sides uh that were
[5:04] trying to make concessions where due uh
[5:07] I think what I recognized from my
[5:09] vantage point was
[5:12] uh we were um presented with the mayor's
[5:15] budget and then there were a number of
[5:17] council members I can say myself uh that
[5:20] I was not in entire agreement for his
[5:22] budget and I think that for this process
[5:24] to work smoothly it requires uh
[5:26] productive and effective dialogue uh it
[5:29] was more challenging than not at
[5:31] sometimes but I'm confident that this
[5:33] presented budget reflects the abilities
[5:36] of myself I speak for myself to try and
[5:39] meet in the middle and present a budget
[5:41] that best meets the considerations of
[5:43] the city
[5:45] of so any further discussion Mr M Baron
[5:49] yes thank you um I just to add to that I
[5:51] mean it's a long um process
[5:54] unfortunately we went beyond our
[5:57] schedule to get a budget this year
[6:00] but it's you know all of us uh mov
[6:03] forward we should take that as a lesson
[6:05] and to pretty much you know kind of work
[6:08] more stronger together I would say work
[6:11] together work more stronger together so
[6:13] that we can able and as Mr Williams says
[6:16] you know we need to come to the table
[6:19] with an open mind be respective of each
[6:21] other's opinion each other's comments
[6:24] and at the same time we should not be
[6:25] digging our heels in the sand and say
[6:27] well the budget the
[6:30] budget it's been happening for years as
[6:32] long as I've been on this Council here
[6:34] where the mayor present his budget we as
[6:37] Council we have an obligation to the
[6:39] taxpayers to review the budget to go for
[6:41] the budget and to look at the budget and
[6:43] this one here is no different from all
[6:45] the others that we have reviewed in the
[6:47] past yes some will say it's painful
[6:50] because we're doing it public in the
[6:52] past and I can say that we have
[6:55] negotiation budget negotiation at at
[6:58] council members house and I was part of
[7:01] that so there's no secret about that and
[7:02] now we're doing it here in the public
[7:05] yes it's painful because we we have to
[7:07] be accountable to the taxpayer and they
[7:09] say yes connected so I want to encourage
[7:11] everybody as we move
[7:13] forward next year I will ask that we
[7:16] have more open communication from the
[7:19] mayor's office from the council
[7:21] president whoever that president is and
[7:23] from the chair of Finance whoever that
[7:26] chair is next year so all of us need to
[7:28] work
[7:29] together more so that we can able to
[7:32] deliver better for our taxpayer and the
[7:34] C
[7:35] connec as the mayor mention we have seen
[7:38] over the in this budget presentation
[7:41] they will be short Falls and when do we
[7:44] address
[7:45] it and that's what some of the me
[7:47] majority of the members were looking at
[7:48] to address it this this year rather than
[7:51] waiting till next year and I think
[7:52] that's what most of our decide to do is
[7:55] to address the short Falls that is
[7:57] tearing on us in
[8:00] 2025 and that's what concern are is that
[8:03] we keep spending and it's not right for
[8:07] us to pass those spending on on the back
[8:10] of the ordinary
[8:11] taxpayers and I think discussion was
[8:14] fruitful everybody had an opportunity on
[8:17] the table here to discuss we had
[8:19] department heads in several times the
[8:22] public has spoken the public has called
[8:24] every one of us taxpayers I'm sure we
[8:27] got a fair share of calls from everybody
[8:28] concerned
[8:29] about the
[8:31] fees concerned about things are going up
[8:34] and the service that been
[8:38] provided is there any further
[8:41] discussion so first of all I just would
[8:43] like to uh thank you all council members
[8:45] for your diligence and the mayor for
[8:47] working on this budget and I'm glad
[8:48] we're at the point where we're
[8:50] considering passing the budget uh pass
[8:52] the budget is a single most function um
[8:55] of the city council and all Council
[8:58] changes just for every when it's cleared
[8:59] all the changes that were um are being
[9:01] made by the council were discussed at
[9:03] this table and presented at this table
[9:06] openly and negotiation really should be
[9:08] a two-way street and so some council
[9:11] members came with changes that they were
[9:12] interested in and others did not so we
[9:15] only could consider what was brought
[9:16] before us to um to to to to consider I
[9:21] know that this budget process took a
[9:23] longer than usual and I guess the last
[9:25] time was 30 years ago um and but it it
[9:28] took that long we just could not get to
[9:30] that place but we finally gotten to a
[9:32] place where we can consider this
[9:33] budget and you know people talk about
[9:36] the fees and we have to consider our
[9:37] taxpayers and how we're impacting them
[9:40] and if we want to maintain our reserves
[9:42] we don't only do that by raising fees on
[9:44] taxpayers and and um uh taxes on
[9:48] taxpayers but we have to look at other
[9:49] ways that we can conceivably cut our
[9:51] spending so that we can um have a
[9:54] balanced budget and not um only uh
[9:57] burden our taxpayers
[10:00] since the mayor has predicted that there
[10:02] will be a deficit I think it's incumbent
[10:04] upon this Council to review our
[10:06] financial status on a quarterly basis in
[10:08] order to keep track of where we are and
[10:10] to make any adjustments that may be
[10:12] necessary during 2024 and that we not
[10:15] just wait until our annual budget and
[10:16] then consider those things so that would
[10:18] be something that I would propose
[10:20] putting forward um so at this point in
[10:23] time no one else have
[10:26] comments um so the motion the item
[10:30] before us and I haven't had a heard for
[10:32] a roll call see a roll okay okay and
[10:36] this this time with Miss M Michael call
[10:38] the rooll Mr M Baron yes Mr Toro
[10:43] no Mr Farley yes Mr Williams yes M
[10:48] Patrick no Mr palini just want to
[10:52] explain my vote no no we've done that
[10:57] this has gone on for decades and if you
[10:59] want to change the rules you change the
[11:01] rules prior our Corporation Council has
[11:04] told us our discussion takes place
[11:05] before then no the council has never
[11:07] agreed on that and there's been it's in
[11:09] the it's in the code there's been
[11:10] explanation of votes for decades it's
[11:12] been in the code it's in the code using
[11:14] the code prop you want to change the
[11:15] rules and the
[11:16] council and I would ask you to abide by
[11:19] the code well then you've not abided by
[11:21] the code for 2
[11:23] years so so then and Mr Cen brought it
[11:26] to our attention that we hadn't and so
[11:27] now we are when was that discussed at
[11:28] the council meeting it's in the code we
[11:30] don't have this yes it does because you
[11:32] changed the rules we did not change the
[11:34] rules you have changed R we've discussed
[11:37] votes Forever at this counil and the
[11:39] last two times we did it we did it this
[11:41] way and so but there was no discussion
[11:44] it's in the code no see you want to hide
[11:46] under the code the fact is that this
[11:49] budget was a ridiculous process it was
[11:52] political completely political because
[11:55] of an election
[11:56] year you'd sit there and talk about the
[12:00] taxpayers you've done nothing to help
[12:02] the taxpayers in fact all you're doing
[12:04] is going to create a worse situation for
[12:07] taxpayers in 2025 2026 and onward you've
[12:12] taken away the ability of the mayor and
[12:14] the staff to do the management that they
[12:16] require that they should be able to do
[12:19] you've created deficits in this budget
[12:23] which is going to just increase the
[12:26] deficit that's going
[12:27] forward the the mayor said the budget
[12:30] deficit is going to be
[12:32] 7.4 for sake argument we'll say it's
[12:36] 3.7 with this budget you've now created
[12:39] a situation where that 3.7 is even going
[12:42] to be
[12:43] larger you've created a deficit with the
[12:47] police and fire budgets which you've cut
[12:51] in in overtime we automatically know
[12:54] that that's going to be more because
[12:56] they're
[12:57] understaffed you've cut the open
[13:01] positions which you yourself just a few
[13:04] months ago put out literature and let me
[13:07] read it so I get it right
[13:12] the let's
[13:13] see invest in
[13:17] connty is what you're saying restore
[13:19] city services fill many longstanding
[13:22] vacant city jobs in the general Services
[13:24] engineering and development departments
[13:27] when positions aren't filled your calls
[13:29] go unanswered your street doesn't get
[13:31] plowed and code enforcement is
[13:34] inadequate then it
[13:37] continues potholes matter adequately
[13:40] staff engineering and general Services
[13:42] departments to restore roads and
[13:44] sidewalks well that was a bunch of loany
[13:48] wasn't it since we now have those
[13:50] positions cut doesn't
[13:52] matter you've not created any situation
[13:55] where your cost savings because those
[13:57] positions were unfilled that you cut if
[13:59] you really wanted the cost save you
[14:01] would have cut positions that
[14:03] filled so instead of and you say oh your
[14:06] numbers you said that last year when the
[14:09] count the chair of finance of the
[14:12] finance commissioner was asked where are
[14:15] my numbers wrong they're not
[14:18] wrong they were correct because here we
[14:21] had we're using
[14:23] 4.4 million or whatever it was of arpa
[14:27] money that's automatic deficit we're
[14:30] using 6.6 million in Def arpa money this
[14:33] year that's automatic deficit where is
[14:36] that money going to come
[14:37] from you sit there and say well people
[14:40] didn't participate you cash your vote
[14:42] sir I'm not done and so when positions
[14:46] were brought up nope cuz certain
[14:50] departments certain whatever couldn't be
[14:53] touched well then you really didn't want
[14:55] to hear from
[14:56] people so this situation this budget was
[15:01] a farce it creates a deficit situation
[15:04] and it only goes to hurt the residents
[15:06] of the city this is
[15:08] ridiculous yes it is ridiculous please
[15:11] what I would like to say is that I'm not
[15:13] surprised you I'm not
[15:16] surprised EXC me Mr Farley Mr Farley I'm
[15:20] not surpris so would you please C your
[15:22] vote when I'm finished so here Mr Excuse
[15:26] when I'm finished we should talk done
[15:28] this for decades that should not be
[15:31] tolerated yeah it is respect when we've
[15:33] had Decades of voting and now all of a
[15:36] sudden you want to change the rules oh I'm not the parliamentarian I beg
[15:41] your pardon I'm not the parliamentarian
[15:43] there's no question this country though
[15:44] I need you to CEST your my vote is now
[15:47] thank
[15:48] you who's for field my vote is yes and I
[15:52] just want to say this all that
[15:53] commentary comes from someone who has
[15:54] moved out of the city and is now a
[15:56] taxpayer in another city I'm legal
[15:58] resident get your facts straight you
[16:00] know president I said yes vot we voted
[16:03] yes the motion passes 4 to
[16:06] three need a motion to adjourn I would
[16:09] like to give you a motion to adjourn but
[16:10] before I no sir you have to give a
[16:12] motion to to adjourn this is R all in
[16:15] favor I we're adjourn thank you it's
[16:18] unacceptable
[16:19] behavior I'm not surprised I'd like to
[16:23] call to
[16:24] order this city council committee
[16:26] meeting for Monday before Mr jinsky
[16:30] leaves just wanted to acknowledge
[16:32] predecessor here is app does it bring
[16:35] back old
[16:36] memories no I you know what I never saw
[16:39] the council this dysfunctional and for
[16:42] those that vote against this budget God
[16:44] bless you and you know something you you
[16:46] can quote everything you want but you
[16:49] know something you should have had the
[16:51] budget pass
[16:54] you finger poting this is really you
[16:58] wouldn't have want it done when you were
[17:00] here so I appreciate you respecting this
[17:02] process even if everyone doesn't I'd
[17:04] expect that from you thank you I'm
[17:06] respecting the
[17:08] proc know my own I'll see M didn't even
[17:11] get a chance to talk I spend $10,000 a
[17:14] year and my property
[17:19] taxes I'd like to call the ERS conc the
[17:21] city council committee meeting for
[17:23] Monday November 20
[17:25] 2023 the first order of business is
[17:27] finance
[17:30] thank you I would like to call the
[17:32] finance committee to further and the
[17:34] first item is a presentation on the 2024
[17:37] dsic
[17:40] budget from dsic yes I am sorry know
[17:46] where stand yes
[17:49] okay please U give us a brief um summary
[17:52] of your um agency's budget yes um so
[17:57] good evening everyone my name is Carney
[17:59] McGuire I am the interim executive
[18:01] director for the downtown skincity
[18:04] Improvement Court
[18:06] dsic um good evening everyone thank you
[18:08] city council president Mar and
[18:10] Porterfield mayor McCarthy I also want
[18:12] to recognize quickly that they have the
[18:15] entire Board of the dsic joining us
[18:17] tonight we have chair Heather Peterson
[18:20] we have Ray leir we have Andrea Cordo we
[18:24] have Phil wah we have Mitch Ramsey we
[18:28] have
[18:28] um Austin Fischer and we have Michael
[18:31] Burns so we have quite a full house here
[18:33] tonight uh just a couple quick notes um
[18:35] regarding the dsic our environmental
[18:38] enhancement and maintenance program or
[18:41] eem which amounts to the overall
[18:43] cleanliness and beautification of
[18:45] downtown's connecti and the dsic
[18:48] footprint promotions and marketing that
[18:51] includes all events Maps social media
[18:54] Weekly Newsletter and the ongoing
[18:57] promotion and support of our
[18:59] stakeholders and this year the dsic
[19:02] proudly completed the jsquare project of
[19:05] which we were
[19:06] instrumental we are here tonight to
[19:08] present our 2024 budget for your
[19:11] consideration of the dsad assessment as
[19:15] part of your packet you have three items
[19:17] for review first is the 2024 proposed
[19:21] dsad assessment summary you will see we
[19:25] are proposing a total assessment of 300
[19:28] 80,000 this amount is up 25,000 from the
[19:32] prior year in 2019 our district was
[19:36] expanded to include parts of Broadway
[19:39] Little Italy and Erie Boulevard most
[19:43] recently we added J square and Gateway
[19:45] Park as part of our eem program
[19:49] responsibilities when our district was
[19:51] expanded in 2019 an overall increase of
[19:55] 100,000 was approved to take place over
[19:57] 4 years years we froze that due to covid
[20:01] like so many other things and this
[20:03] budget proposal includes that last
[20:06] installment of
[20:08] $225,000 you will see we propose
[20:10] increasing the base for minimum
[20:14] fee from 340 to 360 which amounts to
[20:18] about a dollar a day those are roughly
[20:22] 470 properties that pay that assessment
[20:25] out of the 470 about half of them pay
[20:29] the minimum fee which is about a dollar
[20:31] a day private residences and rentals
[20:34] properties with less than four units do
[20:36] not pay any assessment the second page
[20:40] is a summary of Where the funding comes
[20:42] from to support our operation and
[20:44] programming the First Column shows how
[20:47] we allocate the dsad assessment
[20:50] 11,400 or 3% of the funds are allocated
[20:54] to basic
[20:56] Administration 14 144 or 30% of the
[21:00] funds are allocated to our business
[21:03] promotion programs events and all of
[21:05] those things then you'll see 254 600 or
[21:09] 67% of the funds are
[21:12] allocated um line share to our outdoor
[21:15] program again the EM those are the guys
[21:17] you see out there all the time if you
[21:20] follow that along to the bottom line you
[21:21] will see where the lebby contributes
[21:23] 380,000 to our overall support our
[21:27] expenses are actually closer to
[21:29] 937 the balance of our funding comes
[21:32] mainly from Metroplex Authority along
[21:35] with our own fundraising and our own
[21:37] events the third page is our budget with
[21:40] the breakdown of what our revenue and
[21:42] expenses are and how those amounts are
[21:45] allocated to our programs and this is
[21:47] where you'll see that there actually is
[21:49] some decreases in some areas
[21:51] reallocation we really went through it
[21:53] very carefully and figured out where we
[21:55] needed to to have our spending this year
[21:58] and drop downs on some other things so
[22:01] that's what I've got
[22:03] and like to open it up to any questions come in go ahead please um
[22:10] well I appreciate all the work that um
[22:12] you all do on your board and I and I
[22:14] thank you for all the work that you do
[22:16] uh throughout the city um and I
[22:20] appreciate the the differences here in
[22:22] your budget but I did want to um just
[22:24] ask a little bit about the difference in
[22:26] the um the donations and sponsorships
[22:31] um if you could just talk a little bit
[22:33] about that from the 2023 to the 2024
[22:36] budget right have the top right
[22:39] here um oh so we we dropped that down a
[22:42] little bit we we've already um our
[22:45] donations and sponsorships we we've
[22:47] already met a c a little bit of that at
[22:49] this time and we felt that that was
[22:52] something where we really could tweak it
[22:55] um for for getting our donations that
[22:57] maybe Chang changing up some of the
[22:58] fundraising that we do a little bit and
[23:01] kind of reallocate where we're actually
[23:03] looking for maybe more sponsorship
[23:05] dollars okay thank
[23:08] you any other questions go ahead please
[23:11] I just like to comment on um the
[23:14] condition of downtown how nice it looks
[23:16] and it helps with the Renaissance of the
[23:18] everything that's going on um being uh
[23:21] downtown I'm very appreciative of the
[23:23] work that's done on a daily basis uh the
[23:26] workers are out there day night snow
[23:29] rain snow sleep hail icing every corner
[23:33] so that residents can um you know get up
[23:35] on the sidewalks that are maintained by
[23:37] the by the area of residents and
[23:39] businesses so I would just like to um
[23:41] thank that I really like to see you move
[23:43] a little further out of the city up
[23:45] State Street so um and uh hopefully you
[23:48] know you'll be able to do that moving
[23:50] forward thank you I really appreciate
[23:52] that and I got to tell you our folks
[23:53] really appreciate when people stop them
[23:55] in the street and have a little chat
[23:57] with them and say thank you and kind of
[23:59] bolsters them them up it's a tough job
[24:01] and it's Relentless as you know so I
[24:04] guess I would just Echo what my former
[24:06] also council members saying because
[24:08] sometimes people experience the city and
[24:10] they see these really cool things
[24:12] happening um but you could take it for
[24:14] granted you know because honestly you
[24:16] guys aren't really out here you know
[24:17] beating the chest telling about all the
[24:19] great work that you're doing so anytime
[24:20] we get an opportunity on foration like
[24:22] this is very refreshing and and it's
[24:24] good for people to take away from this
[24:26] that there's a lot of hard work and
[24:27] planning that to go behind all the great
[24:29] work that you guys are doing so I just
[24:30] extend my appreciation as well
[24:32] appreciate that thank
[24:34] you any other coming from a young member
[24:37] again thank you and thank you to all the
[24:38] members are doing a wonderful job for
[24:41] downtown residents and I appreciate that
[24:43] thank you thank for coming there's
[24:45] nothing we need to do on this item it's
[24:46] just a reminder that there will be a
[24:47] public hearing uh next Monday 700 p.m.
[24:52] the next item is the presentation of the
[24:54] 2024 Upper Union Street bid do we have a
[24:57] representative here
[25:02] please thank you you're
[25:05] welcome thank you I know it's always a
[25:07] hard one to follow behind downtown
[25:09] because we're a much more modest
[25:12] group so they start the bar a little
[25:14] high but um I'm here representing the
[25:16] Upper Union Street business improvement
[25:18] district I am the acting executive
[25:20] director currently so thank you to the
[25:21] city council for their support to mayor
[25:23] mccy for his support as well um as I
[25:26] just mentioned we have a more modest
[25:28] budget that we run up on our you know
[25:30] small neck of the woods but we've really
[25:31] been focused and you'll see reflected in
[25:34] the budget for this uh upcoming year on
[25:36] beautification efforts on up reunion
[25:38] street so this year a big um part of
[25:40] that was getting brand new Street
[25:42] planters that we were able to filled
[25:44] with flowers that matched the downtown
[25:47] uh landscape as well we actually worked
[25:49] with downtown Improvement Corp and had
[25:51] um brought their Landscaping Crews up
[25:53] our way we actually um uh yeah paid to
[25:56] have theirs come up take care of
[25:57] installing flowers that match just for
[25:59] the cohesion since we are one of the
[26:00] thorough faires that take people into
[26:02] downtown um and we took care of watering
[26:05] so that way everything stayed looking as
[26:07] good as when they planted it um and now
[26:09] we're exploring some ideas for next year
[26:10] that include some Urban art
[26:12] opportunities uh we're working with
[26:14] local artists um nonprofit art groups
[26:17] just to try to bring some of what's
[26:19] happening in downtown up to our neck of
[26:20] the woods um you know we've obviously
[26:22] had an interesting year as being the
[26:25] first location with the dispensary in
[26:27] connected and EMP Union Street uh which
[26:29] has been a lot of the focus up our way
[26:31] so we're researching opportunities for
[26:33] extra signage for parking um and all of
[26:36] that's kind of into our beautification
[26:38] efforts here and then we still do have a
[26:40] couple of events that we run uh a
[26:42] Halloween trick-or treat for kids and
[26:44] then our holiday tree lighting which is
[26:46] this Saturday as well so I think that
[26:48] pretty much touches on most of it if
[26:50] there's any questions happy to answer
[26:53] those questions come
[26:56] on just one
[27:00] again I'd like to thank you I I know
[27:02] this Christmas decorations up by the the
[27:04] um in the circle there yes um they are
[27:07] they they look beautiful and spending a
[27:09] lot of time and U visiting a lot of
[27:11] businesses in the uh Upper Union Street
[27:13] my account include it that um I always
[27:15] like going up there things look nice and
[27:17] I thank you for taking the time to make
[27:19] it all the residents and U visitors
[27:21] coming into the city appreciate how
[27:23] pretty our city actually is so thank you
[27:26] great thank you go ahead um I also would
[27:28] like to just say the events are fun and
[27:30] I know that the the trick-or treat thing
[27:33] was just I mean it was unbelievable how
[27:35] many people were out two years of
[27:38] perfect weather too which helped cuz it
[27:40] was near 70° 2 years in a row so yeah it
[27:42] was wonderful to see this the sidewalks
[27:44] full again you know in the postco world
[27:46] it's just nice to see and we have a very
[27:48] walkable community so you have a lot of
[27:50] people that live on those side streets
[27:52] coming out yeah it was great I know
[27:53] talking with some of the businesses they
[27:55] had a lot of fun with it too so
[27:57] fantastic fantastic thank you very much
[27:58] thank you thank you very much thank you thank you for you're doing you
[28:03] and this is also just a reminder for a
[28:05] public hearing uh next Monday 7
[28:09] p.m. the next item is increasing the minimum income for New
[28:14] York real real property tax
[28:18] exemption Mr Williams yes uh so we left
[28:21] off last meeting where miss m was going
[28:23] to come and give us an update and some
[28:25] proposed numbers so she's here at the
[28:27] time I looking forward to hearing her
[28:29] update um
[28:31] so is it on um so I had had been
[28:35] expecting some questions and I didn't
[28:37] really get much from people um in
[28:40] between the last time that I was here
[28:42] you know I ran the two scenarios I still
[28:45] would like to um encourage the the idea
[28:49] that um you stick with a lower number um
[28:53] to start because if we do have another
[28:55] increase in Social Security in the
[28:56] future we want to be able to adjust um
[28:59] and you know stay like I I think I gave
[29:02] the scenario of uh
[29:05] 4,400 and then I went all the way up to
[29:08] or 45,000 and I just think that's a pretty big jump um to make in
[29:13] terms of you know I think making an
[29:15] increase would be a wise decision just
[29:18] because we haven't done that since uh
[29:20] 2009 um but making a big jump could you
[29:23] know I mean it's listening to the budget
[29:26] stuff and all that it wouldn't want to
[29:28] um have that be a problem you add to
[29:30] that you know what what's going to
[29:32] happen in the future
[29:33] so
[29:35] um so I don't yes are you so can you
[29:39] before you gave us the amounts um so can
[29:41] you tell us what the amounts are and
[29:43] then which you would be um So currently
[29:46] the um the threshold is
[29:49] 37,400 um and that's for that's the most
[29:53] amount um and then as that reduces to
[29:56] 29,000 um that's how the percentages go
[29:59] up so what I'm suggesting is instead of
[30:03] 37,400 we bump it up to
[30:06] 4,400 um and I had in those the scenario
[30:09] and the paperwork that I had given you
[30:10] last time you know that
[30:14] um would looking at what a tax bill
[30:17] would be for that amount um wouldn't be
[30:19] as much of a hit as if we were to go any
[30:22] higher than that um for the time
[30:25] being um see again 7 4 uh
[30:29] 4,400 so it's just increasing it by
[30:32] $3,000 increasing thank
[30:36] you go ahead um and do we know or can
[30:41] you I I mean I don't know that you can
[30:43] estimate necessarily how much that is
[30:45] going to hit our budget it's hard
[30:47] because I don't know who's going to
[30:48] apply that I think that was part of the
[30:50] discussion last time is that it's it's
[30:52] really a you know I mean it's anybody
[30:54] who turned 65 um it's people that may
[30:56] have been um may have lost the exemption
[31:00] in the past because of a one oneoff situ
[31:02] you know just one year um so it's hard
[31:05] to predict we're getting a lot of
[31:06] applications in now but a lot of these
[31:08] are people who already had it um because
[31:11] we just sent out our renewal notices so
[31:13] got you thanks
[31:16] yeah and you think by moving it to 45
[31:18] that would be too drastic I do yeah I I
[31:21] think it's just it's I think it's too
[31:23] much to um to go at least for the first
[31:26] year now the the fact that the state set
[31:28] the limit at 50 you know I mean I think
[31:30] we had a discussion too about down state
[31:32] and and higher incomes down but it also
[31:35] gives then if if we go to
[31:37] 4,400 it allows us in the future to you
[31:40] know continue to to bump it up if we
[31:42] need to
[31:46] um and the 4,400 is commensurate it's 8%
[31:51] increase so it's right along the lines
[31:54] of the increase with Social Security
[32:10] any other
[32:13] question uh go ahead please so that's
[32:17] the conclusion of the comments I
[32:18] definitely appreciate you coming back to
[32:20] the council writing us another upate uh
[32:22] I know that we were identifying there's
[32:24] no apparent rush because we have
[32:26] conceived till March of 2024 to make a
[32:30] determination it sounds more as if that
[32:33] the council is accepting of the
[32:36] 4,400 price range just trying to gauge
[32:38] where everyone
[32:39] is
[32:41] yeah and I believe there has to be a
[32:44] public hear in
[32:51] C some goad please are we calling for a
[32:54] public hearing at this point or I think
[32:57] so wanted to know gaug where where the
[32:59] council sits in terms of
[33:01] 40,000 400 or 45,000 or
[33:05] maximum I I I I'm incl to go with the
[33:09] suggestion from U our assessor who is
[33:12] knowledgeable in this field so I would
[33:15] say that um let's look at 4,400 at this
[33:19] point in time and then you know revisit
[33:21] it if we need to down the
[33:25] road more
[33:29] that I mean I initially uh my natural
[33:32] inclination was to I'd like to see it a
[33:35] little higher but I think I'm based on
[33:36] you know us not really being able to
[33:38] gauge how many people I think that that
[33:40] is where you know you know I definitely
[33:42] offer that difference I
[33:50] care so you would you like to move
[33:53] forward now or we we can call for public
[33:56] hearing since we have the information
[33:58] have what we're going to move forward
[33:59] with in terms of
[34:01] numbers so would you like to wait
[34:04] another two more
[34:05] weeks uh heard from four council members
[34:11] oh oh I I would support going to with
[34:14] what our City Assessor is
[34:18] recommending as
[34:21] well I already already
[34:25] said sure some make a motion uh that we
[34:28] proceed with the
[34:29] 4,400 um based on Miss um M Roy's
[34:33] recommendation which allows us to to
[34:35] gauge how that affects our our city
[34:38] moving forward and should we need to
[34:40] continue with subsequent increases I
[34:42] think that does it in a manner that's uh financially prudent to the city and
[34:47] it's not going to overwhelm so we're
[34:49] moving forward a motion to call for
[34:51] public hearing based on those comment
[34:53] and recommendation from the
[34:55] assesses we have a second I'll second
[34:58] all in favor I thank you thank you thank you very
[35:05] much the public hearing is de December
[35:08] 11 thank you the next item is the
[35:10] highback maintenance and repair for
[35:12] 20123 Mr
[35:17] Leon are you coming yes goe excuse
[35:23] me um we're here uh what we're doing
[35:26] here is uh actually U using the city's
[35:29] connect purchasing policy and what we
[35:31] did uh to provide the uh pair and
[35:35] maintenance of uh all the ventilation
[35:37] Air Conditioning Heating and all the
[35:39] Haack for the whole city we went out the
[35:41] competitive bid so that we get the you
[35:43] know a company in with us so that
[35:46] there'll be our call then you know
[35:47] they'll come in right away um we we went
[35:50] out the bid and R&B mechanical were were
[35:53] the winners of the bid um if you seen
[35:56] the pack it until it shows you how much
[35:58] uh the the cost will be and we're
[36:01] requesting that the mayor authorize
[36:04] this discussion go ahead please so how
[36:07] long is the uh contract for it's going
[36:09] to be for a year just one year
[36:11] yeah thank
[36:13] you any other
[36:16] comments hold on hold on so um so we
[36:20] only had one person that uh came back on
[36:21] the bid that is correct that's it yeah
[36:24] but we did we did send them out to all
[36:25] our uh all our uh respective people that
[36:28] we use okay thank
[36:32] you any other comment may have a
[36:36] motion yes second second all in favor I
[36:40] thank you the next item is the road Ro
[36:42] Garden restoration committee potential
[36:45] reimbursement of expense Mr Ferrari yes
[36:48] uh every year Rose Garden uh they
[36:50] request us to uh uh help them uh with
[36:54] the bills that they pay throughout the
[36:55] year and we pay them with the amount
[36:57] that we've collected for the use of the
[36:59] garden permits and phot photo permits uh
[37:02] this this year we received the
[37:05] $1,795 for the garding request and for
[37:08] photos we actually received
[37:10] $1,875 for a total of uh for a total of
[37:15] uh where is it right
[37:17] here
[37:19] 3670 uh uh the Rose Garden they sent us
[37:23] uh uh bills and uh requested uh bills
[37:26] for
[37:28] $3,635 37 which is you know uh a little
[37:33] bit below us so we got about $34 and 60
[37:35] something cents that we can play with
[37:37] extra but we're requesting to send this
[37:39] to the r ging committee because they do
[37:41] a great job uh it's always beautiful
[37:44] they're working very well and I'm hope
[37:46] uh we pass
[37:48] this any question on this see now may
[37:51] have a motion I'll move it all in favor
[37:54] I thank you thank you very much any
[37:56] business supp for finance motion to
[37:58] adjer
[37:59] second second all in favor I thank you
[38:03] i' like to call order City development
[38:04] and planning we have six items on the
[38:06] agenda uh our first one is followup of
[38:09] arpa contracts Miss
[38:13] Carver good
[38:17] evening mayor Madam president city
[38:20] council it's always a great pleasure to
[38:22] be here um to report and give you update
[38:24] on our updates on our state fast
[38:27] progress regarding executed arpa
[38:30] contracts um So currently we were able
[38:33] to move since the last time I recorded
[38:36] on the six two ex fully executed
[38:39] contracts from scat and Hamilton hill
[38:41] art center um contracts that have been
[38:44] approved by corporate Council and signed
[38:46] by the mayor and we are waiting for um
[38:49] signed back from our sub recipients
[38:51] include the Green Market Boys and Girls
[38:53] Club and the seat Center um currently in
[38:57] corporate Council review is Habitat for
[38:59] Humanity and the skn SKC Kus club and we
[39:03] are still pending decisions um from the
[39:06] city council on the bcni Hamilton Hill
[39:09] um infield Project Extension and the
[39:11] Coco house change of use of funds and
[39:13] also pending the um extension um
[39:17] deadline to move forward with getting
[39:19] contract out to our sub recipients would
[39:21] be the YWCA Harbor House project Miracle
[39:24] on Craig and Electric City
[39:28] any questions or
[39:29] comments I'm sorry can you just tell me
[39:31] the extension ones were bcni Coco house
[39:34] did you have a was there and
[39:36] Craig um okay I got those I got YWCA
[39:40] miracle and Craig electric city but I
[39:41] thought they were two different
[39:42] categories they are pending decision
[39:44] from city council is the bcni Hamilton
[39:47] Hill and the Coco house change use of
[39:50] funds okay thank you thank you and BC
[39:53] and also wants an extension yes they request an
[39:59] extension so asked oh I'm sorry you have
[40:02] a question asked Miss car to um to give
[40:06] us some writing in a chart so we
[40:07] actually have it all in front of exactly
[40:09] where everything is so it's you're
[40:11] welcome so that we can take a look at it
[40:13] and just kind of keep up with it I know
[40:15] that you got it all down yes not a
[40:16] problem I will get that to you before
[40:18] the holiday okay that's great I was just
[40:21] going to say it seems like progress is
[40:22] moving along um and I just want to
[40:24] appreciate the work that you're doing um
[40:26] I know that this is a fight the undertak
[40:28] and done a wonderful job th far so I
[40:30] appreciate those thank you so much thank you any question so for C house we didn't
[40:38] discuss the M ter just a presentation us
[40:42] right request to change the the contract
[40:46] right so where is that sitting at this
[40:47] point in time at this point in time it
[40:49] has to come back to the council has to
[40:50] have they brought it to us we just
[40:52] discussed it so it's up to the council
[40:54] now so at our next committee meeting we
[40:55] have to bring those back that that we
[40:57] did not make decisions on and the infill
[41:00] for bcni was one and also coko house
[41:03] they both came because one wanted an
[41:05] extension the other wanted change the
[41:06] use of funds and we have to um and also
[41:10] why WCA wanted additional
[41:12] funding so that's why she gives us a
[41:14] chart of what everything is when we come
[41:16] to the next committee meeting we can
[41:18] have all those things before us to um to
[41:20] bring for
[41:21] discussion okay thank you you're
[41:24] welcome thank you thank
[41:27] you uh the next item on the agenda is a
[41:30] ceremonial resolution to honor uh Rond
[41:35] Canta uh at the ski County honor of that
[41:38] uh
[41:39] ceremony and I think it's
[41:42] December it's early in December so I
[41:44] want to make sure we get the test so
[41:45] that we have the uh resolution there for
[41:48] the um
[41:50] event second all in favor I thank
[41:54] you see last three items are excuse me
[41:58] the last four items are for property
[42:01] sales and would have to be done in
[42:03] executive session so I ask for a motion
[42:05] to recess Mr Brown's not here who's
[42:09] presenting for him nobody nobody nobody
[42:12] let us
[42:15] Michelle let us no okay well because
[42:18] Miss excuse me I'll go through it if the
[42:21] council's inclined we can work through
[42:23] it together I know that uh Miss DAV Mrs
[42:25] Davis did the um meeting so you will do
[42:28] those okay so we'll go we'll recess now
[42:31] and then do that in executive session
[42:32] motion to
[42:34] recess second all in favor we're recess
[42:37] thank you I'd like to call the order the
[42:39] Public Safety Committee we have two
[42:40] items on the agenda tonight uh first the
[42:42] which will be by Chief Marino and that
[42:45] is the drug screening
[42:53] policy if the council if the council's
[42:56] inclined for this um this could be this
[42:59] could go into executive session since it
[43:01] is uh related to collective bargaining
[43:03] okay corre so we'll hold that for
[43:05] executive session the second item is
[43:07] going to be the firefighter trainee
[43:10] Chief same thing same thing yes it's
[43:13] related to colle okay this
[43:19] time at this
[43:21] time no
[43:25] EX second all in
[43:37] favor no there's no there's no one here
[43:40] I looked around except the um the DI
[43:42] doing the he's getting it